Ars Churgica, A Compendium of the Theory and Practice of Chirurgery
1699, the second edition of William Salmon's book of surgery containing the first three sections and 12 plates
Author
Publisher
Printing Details
Second edition. Full leather with original boards but relaid spine. Simple gilt titling to spine. 18 × 11cm. [14 preface], [2 errata & medicinal characters], 730pp, with portrait and 12 plates.
This is a part copy of Salmon's early book of surgery, and contains the first three books [chapters] (out of seven). The three books here are 1. The Instruments and Operations of the Art, 2. The Removal of Defilements, and 3. The Cure of Tumors. These three chapters contain a mass of late seventeenth century information on how to perform operations, and the medicines and equipment needed, followed by a chapter on certain procedures such as drawing teeth, the treatment of measles, French-pox (the archaic term for syphilis), leprosy etc, and the third and final chapter here on the cure of tumors.
The book is illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of Salmon, and 12 plates, most showing the instruments of surgery but also showing their use such as the ambi of Hippocrat, the elbow compressor and the reductive ladder. There is also a fold-out plate of Salmon's academy but this is only partial, the lacking the left hand side.
William Salmon (1644–1713) was an empiric doctor often referred to as 'The King of the Quacks' by the physicians of the time. He set up his surgery near St Bartholomew's Hospital in London to treat those who weren't seen by the hospital, where he also dispensed pills and ointments of his own making.
Condition
This copy is in very good condition for age. The leather is lightly rubbed, with a small area of loss to the fore-edge of the rear board. There is some very minor old worming marks to the pages' fore-edge but only penetrating the margins for a millimetre or so. Page 499 has some slight loss of text to the bottom corner but it remains readable. There is age-toning and a light water-stain to the last quarter of the book, again remaining in a strong readable state. This title calls for 12 plates within the text, all of which are present. As mentioned there is also a frontipiece of the author, and the partial plate of his academy.
Further images available on request.
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Price
£275.00
