1890. Large 8vo, pp. vii, 636; with twelve plates, of which 11 are mounted Woodbury types, and one engraved plate, together with numerous figures within the text; plate 3 without tissue guard; paper a little browned throughout due to quality, some light marginal dampstaining to preface and table of contents from p. 626, with further occasional light spotting and soiling including ink staining on p. 48; in contemporary half roan over marbled boards, spine in compartments with raised bands, slightly faded and sunned, head of spine lightly worn, with some scuffing to upper cover, extremities lightly rubbed and bumped; a presentation copy from the author and inscribed on the half-title to ‘Monsieur le Docteur Widal’. First edition, and a presentation copy, of this noted work on epilepsy, including 11 mounted Woodbury types, highlighting physical pathologies associated with epilepsy and epileptic seizures. The lithograph plate shows histological lesions of the cerebral cortex.
‘In 1890, for the first time, a monograph was published which addressed epilepsies in the plural... a classification appeared to be required to provide structure to the increasingly heterogeneous field. Féré distinguished primarily partial and generalised paroxysms and subdivided the latter into: 1) the complete attack; 2) the incomplete attack; 3) abnormal attacks; and 4) isolated symptoms’ (Peter Wolf, History of epilepsy: nosological concepts and classification, in Epileptic Disorders: International Epileptic Journals, Sept 2014; I6 (3): 261-9). ‘A monumental undertaking by an important member of the Charcot circle, this volume is a synopsis of all that was understood and documented on neurologic disorders up to the time of its publication in 1890. Féré cites case histories and observations from over 800 physicians and presents his own classification of hystero-epileptic disorders’ (Mark Rowley, artandmedicine.com). He goes on to suggest that the photographs may have been taken by Albert Londe (1858-1917), who had established a photographic laboratory at the Salpêtrière during Charcot’s tenure, and would no doubt have been known to Féré.
Féré began his medical studies at Rouen and completed them in 1882 at Paris. He interned in surgery but whilst assisting Jean-Martin Charcot at the Salpêtrière, changed to neuropathology. In 1887 he was appointed chief medical officer at the Bicêtre, where he remained for the rest of his career. A specialist of ‘hystero-epilepsy’, he published extensively with studies on the anatomy of the nervous system, sexuality, hypnosis, Darwinism, and criminology.
The work is inscribed to ‘Monsieur le Docteur Widal’ - either Henri Victor Widal (1826-1894), the military physician and member of the Academy of Medicine, or perhaps more likely to his son Georges-Ferdinand (1862-1929), the noted pathological anatomist, who published essays on the nervous system, and most notably on infectious diseases.