1950. 8vo, pp. [iii] - 233, [1]; with 172 line drawings, diagrams and photographs throughout the text; aside from some very occasional and minor soiling and furling to corners, clean and crisp; in the original buff card wrappers, lettered in red, covers a little foxed and soiled, front cover lower corner with signs of creasing, extremities and corners lightly bumped and rubbed; a good copy. First edition of this detailed contribution to the corpus of works on cosmetic surgery, and discussing in particular rhinoplasty. Aesthetic or cosmetic surgeons had for many years laboured on the margins of medical respectability, as Galtier’s colleague M. Bouchet alludes to in his preface. France had been a little slow to recognise the importance of cosmetic surgery, in comparison to other nations, notably America. There psychiatrists had been more willing to refer patients to surgeons for the correction of nasal deformities which were causing them anxiety. However, little by little, as techniques had improved and procedures become safer, thanks in part to the developments made in plastic surgery during the war, cosmetic surgery was becoming a more recognised, and indeed more reputable, field of speciality. Echoing the sentiments of Suzanne Noël, Bouchet notes that the discipline can bring great hope and benefit to patients in a variety of trades, who feel that they need to improve their aesthetic appearance and to regain self-confidence. He hopes therefore, that this book will highlight the great service that cosmetic surgery can provide to many. Galtier describes in detail a number of procedures, including several case histories, aided by the inclusion of numerous diagrams and photographs.
Whilst the sentiments expressed may be similar to those of the pioneering cosmetic surgeon Noël (1878-1954), it is interesting to note that her fundamental work of 1926 ‘La Chirurgie esthétique’ is not mentioned in the bibliography at the end of the work, and as far as we can tell, no reference is made to her within the work, although it is true to say that rhinoplasty was not a technique for which she is best remembered.