1900. 4to, pp. 118, [4], all mounted on guards; with 48 leaves of x-rays also mounted on guards, and each retaining original tissue guards (some a little creased); paper lightly browned throughout due to quality with some occasional light soiling, and a few very minor marginal nicks; in the original red publisher’s cloth, lettered and ruled in blind and gilt, inner hinge a little weak, head of spine worn with small tear at upper joint, with further light wear at tail, spine lightly sunned with small stain at tail, surfaces and extremities lightly rubbed and scuffed, corners lightly worn; a good copy. Scarce first edition of this striking orthopaedic atlas, employing and espousing the use of radiography as a valuable tool for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Paul Redard (1849-1916) was a noted French orthopaedic surgeon, and was an early exponent of the benefits that the discovery of Roentgen Rays could bring to the study of deformations, and to bone and joint disorders, and this appears to be the first French atlas of radiography, and the first orthopaedic radiography atlas published.
Containing 48 ‘photocollographs’ or collotypes, produced by the noted photographic printer Denis André Longuet (1861-1928), the atlas provides a striking graphic depiction of a number of deviations of the spine (including scoliosis and ‘Pott’s Disease’), of osteo-arthritis, and of congenital dislocations of the hip. In his introduction, Redard states that ‘X-Ray gives an accurate representation of the configurations of deformities, bone lesions and joints, even when they are deeply located’. Although he admits that sometimes the images are inconclusive, errors are comparatively rare, and the technique nevertheless provides a valuable investigative tool for the study of inaccessible areas.