1873. 8vo, pp. 32; with a blank temperature chart loosely inserted; with printer’s device on title-page; somewhat browned and foxed throughout due to paper quality, gutters exposed in a couple of places, notably between pp. 4-5, lower gutter chipped with some loss, corners a little furled; in the original printed wrappers, spine with old tape repair, though with loss at tail, upper lower corner repaired with tape, covers quite foxed and soiled with two ring marks on upper cover, two labels along spine, and accession number? in blue crayon on upper cover; a little fragile, but sound. An unusual and scarce insight into the attempted regulation of medical fees in Turin at the end of the nineteenth century. A suggested tariff for the services of physicians, surgeons, phlebotomists, midwives and veterinarians was first compiled by the Consiglio Superiore di Sanità in 1852. The preface notes, however, that in the intervening period the prices of most necessary things have more than doubled, in line with an increased general prosperity throughout all walks and classes of society. It is therefore deemed fair and necessary that professional medical fees should also increase, and thus the present guide has been issued. In no way a legal document, the tariff is merely a guideline, showing an average of what one might expect to pay. An extensive list of common medical consultations and procedures then follows.
Also of interest is the Obstetrical Calendar that is included from pp. 24 onwards. Compiled by Professor Domenico of the Turin Obstetrical Clinic, the year long calendar gives two columns for each month showing the date of last menstruation and corresponding expected date of delivery. Loosely inserted is also a blank temperature chart to be filled in.

1700. 12mo in 8s and 4s, pp. [28], 187, [1], [iv] half-title and errata leaf, ix, explanatory leaves for six copper-engraved plates (nos 1-7 and containing 8 figures), [2] blank, pp. 90 ie 120, (pagination error after p. 96), [2]; with a couple of small woodcut figures within text, and woodcut head- and tail pieces; lightly browned throughout with some occasional light foxing and soiling, first two plates a little oxidised but not affecting image; without the front free endpaper; four lines of ms notes, seemingly late 18th century, on rear pastedown; 19th century sheep back over marbled boards, spine in compartments with raised bands, tooled and lettered in gilt, small nick with loss at head of upper joint, upper joint starting but holding firm, joints and extremities lightly rubbed and worn; with engraved armourial book-plate on front pastedown ‘Ex Libris Henr. Petit Doct. Med. Suessionæi’; a good copy. First edition of this important work by the distinguished French surgeon and comparative anatomist, Jean Méry (1645-1722), dealing principally with his theories ‘de la manière dont la circulation du sang se fait dans le foetus humain’ (p. 1). Whilst ultimately his views were proved to be erroneous, the work is important in the history of circulation, for the ensuing controversy and long-running debate which it provoked for a number of years within the French medical community and Academy of Sciences.
Published in the year that Méry became chief surgeon at the Hôtel-Dieu, the work is divided into two sections, and whilst the title-page suggests that his discussion on lithotomy will dominate the work, it is in fact his observations on blood circulation in the foetus which form the majority of the volume, spanning 187 pages and including seven finely engraved copper plates on six leaves. Although having worked closely with Claude Perrault (1613-1688) and, in particular, J. G. Duverney (1648-1730) on a number of comparative anatomical works, Méry and Duverney had become estranged after 1693 over their differing interpretations of mammalian foetal circulation. He strongly opposed Duverney’s theories, and claimed, wrongly, that the blood flowed from the left to the right through the foramen ovale in the interatrial septum, having initially formulated this theory from a false analogy between a tortoise heart and a foetal mammalian heart. ‘The outstanding differences between Méry's view and the traditional ones were his beliefs that the so-called valve of the foramen ovale was not a valve at all but the caudal part of the inter-atrial septum, that the venous return from the left lung of the foetus was the only blood which passed through the foramen ovale and that it did so from left to right, and that there was a considerable pulmonary blood flow in utero’ (Franklin, Jean Méry and his ideas on fetal blood flow, Annals of Science, 1945, 5, pp. 203-228). His ‘physiological views were derived partly from the literature, partly from his own experimental and clinical work, partly from his anatomical findings, and partly from the results of injection of air or of fluids into the vessels of soft anatomical specimens’ (ibid). ‘Méry erred in assuming that the cross section of an artery is the only factor determining the amount of blood that can flow through it. He compounded this error by his method of measuring the relative cross sections of the arteries. He may have used fresh preparations for his measurements on cows and sheep. For those on human beings, he probably used preserved specimens, dried ones as a rule. The results were inconsistent at best’ (Encyclopedia.com).
Méry includes a number of published responses to his theories in the present work, as well as discussing Harvey’s view, one that he shared, that blood which passes through the arterial canal goes from the pulmonary artery to the aorta, thus escaping the lung. The debate was to rage for some two decades, with numerous arguments presented on both sides of the controversy. Méry held his views against all opposition until his death.
In the second, separately paginated, section of the work, Méry turns his attention to lithotomy, and in particular to the work of the famous itinerant lithotomist Frere Jacques Beaulieu (also known as Jacques Baulot 1651-1720). A Dominican friar, with scant knowledge of anatomy, in 1697 he was was invited to demonstrate his methods under the supervision of Méry, who at his own private practice in Paris had gained a particular reputation for the procedure. Jacques was first required to demonstrate his method on a cadaver and afterwards allowed to conduct lithotomies on patients. Out of 71 patients 53% died from complications with Méry conducting autopsies to identify the causes. This led to Frere Jacques being debarred from conducting surgeries in Paris.
Born in 1645, the son of a master surgeon, Méry studied at the Hotel Dieu, graduating with a thesis on the anatomy of the ear. He was appointed surgeon there in 1681 later becoming chief surgeon. As his career progressed he received appointments as chief surgeon to the queen and senior surgeon at the Invalides hospital for veterans. A dedicated teacher, he stressed the importance of careful observation, and he was the driving force behind the building of the surgical amphitheatre and the establishment of courses in anatomy and surgery. He described several structures, such as the eustachian tube and the urethral glands, for which he received no recognition in that they were later described by other investigators and named after them. In Paris he was known to have an extensive anatomy cabinet of human and animal specimens that he himself had carefully dissected, notably a display of nerves from origin to insertion that he had spent many years to dissect.

1835. Small folio, pp. [viii], 36, [2] duplicate leaf of pp. 35-6,[37]-44, [4] explanation to plates and vitae curriculum; with four engraved plates, one partially hand-coloured in blue and red, and signed ‘Franz Wagner del, C. Guinard sc’; title-page somewhat browned, with further browning and foxing throughout, plates quite prominently foxed and browned, corners a little furled, with a few small marginal nicks and tears, ink accession number at upper margin of title-page with very faint blindstamp at tail; sympathetically rebound in modern black marbled papers to style, with some light wear to joints and extremities. A detailed dissertation on pathological anatomy, focusing upon human and animal abnormalities, and in particular the various types of bone fissures. For a doctoral thesis it is surprisingly well produced in the larger folio format, using appealing typography and including four finely engraved plates illustrating the head of a young lamb or calf.
Conrad Meyer-Ahrens (1813-1872) was a Swiss physician and medical historian. He studied at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin where he publicly defended the present dissertation. The dedication is to his teacher, Johannes Müller.

1930. 8vo, pp. xxiii, [i] blank, 130, 24 publisher’s advertisements; with 47 half-tone illustrations on 46 leaves, and 38 text illustrations; some minor marginal browning and occasional light soiling; with a number of neat marginal annotations in pencil throughout, in Swedish; with facsimile signature of John L. Baird; in the original green publisher’s cloth, upper cover with blindstamped border, spine and upper cover lettered in gilt, head and tail of spine a little bumped, some light soiling to covers, extremities lightly bumped. First edition of this important work, aimed at the general reader and amateur constructor, and one of the earliest works on television. Sydney Moseley was Baird's business manager and a tireless enthusiast for his work, and the present manual provides an detailed account of his work and system. His self-appointed champion and biographer, Moseley gives a strong defence of Baird and an extended account of the battle with the BBC Additional technical information is provided by H.J. Barton Chapple. ‘I started out to write a piquant history of television as I knew it at first hand, but the subject has grown out of hand. I found history was being made even as I wrote’ (p.xxii).

ca. 1814]. Three short pamphlets in one volume 8vo; pp. [ii], 18; pp. 7, [1]; pp. 8; small paper flaw with loss of one letter on first title-page, all three pamphlets lightly foxed and browned; in cloth-backed marbled paper over boards, with hand-written paper label on upper cover, front inner hinge cracked and broken; with small book-label on front paste down. Three uncommon satirical pamphlets discussing the final chapters of the Napoleonic era, and the restoration of Louis XVIII, very much an anti-Bonaparte standpoint and celebrating the restoration of the Bourbons. Following the French Revolution and during the Napoleonic era, Louis XVIII lived in exile in Prussia, England, and Russia. When the Sixth Coalition of Russia, Austria, Prussia, England, Holland, and other smaller states finally defeated Napoleon in 1814, forcing the surrender Paris, and the abdication and exile of Napoleon himself, Louis XVIII was placed in what he, and the French royalists, considered his rightful position. However, Napoleon escaped from his exile in Elba and restored his French Empire. Louis XVIII fled, and a Seventh Coalition declared war on the French Empire, defeated Napoleon again, and again restored Louis XVIII to the French throne. He ruled as king for slightly less than a decade.

1905. 8vo, pp. [ii], [461]-508, [8] list of publications; with 17 half-tone plates, and large folding engraved ‘geologic map’ printed in green, red, blue, brown and orange, housed within pocket on rear pastedown; map a little creased at one fold, but otherwise good; lightly browned throughout with some minor dinking to fore-edge in places; stapled as issued in the original printed wrappers, staples rusted, and both inner hinges cracked, with evidence or previous attempt to re-glue spine to book-block, spine somewhat browned and soiled, 3cm tear to rear cover where inside pocket has slightly pulled away; a sound copy. The Ph.D. dissertation of the noted U.S. geologist, glaciologist and educator, Ida Helen Ogilvie (1874-1963), earned whilst at Columbia University, under the guidance of her advisor, the petrologist James Furman Kemp (1859-1926). Ogilvie's dissertation was the geologic mapping of the Paradox Lake Quadrangle in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Fifteen-minute quadrangle maps were only just becoming available for this part of the United States, and hers was the first quadrangle report on rocks from the Adirondacks published by the New York State Museum in 1905.
‘Ida Ogilvie’s wealthy parents had expected their daughter to be socially prominent and allowed her to travel extensively before she attended college... However by the time she reached Bryn Mawr, she had no intentions of pursuing the life of a society matron. She studied geology with Florence Bascom, then went to Columbia University to complete a doctoral degree (1903).
After completing this degree, she took a position at Barnard College, where she founded the department of geology. Not content with working only with undergraduates, she wanted to teach graduates at Columbia as well. However, they were well stocked with professors in her areas of expertise. She found, nevertheless, that they had no one to teach glacial geology. Interested in the subject since her time at Chicago, she read extensively and prepared herself to teach it. Ogilvie was an excellent lecturer and spent a considerable amount of time organizing and preparing for her classes. She worked extensively on the geology of New York State and the glaciers of Alberta, Canada. The second woman to be admitted to the Geological Society of America, one of the three women first admitted to the Columbia Chapter of Sigma Xi, and vice-president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Ogilvie was active professionally. She used a portion of her inherited wealth to support geology students at Bryn Mawr, Columbia and Barnard’ (Ogilvie, II. p. 958).
Ogilvie was one of the first students of Florence Bascom, who set a generation of women from Bryn Mawr onto careers in geology. Ogilvie’s hiring at Barnard College began one of the few geology programs at elite women’s colleges, with others started by Elizabeth F. Fisher at Wellesley College, and Mignon Talbot at Mount Holyoke. Maps in the 15 Minute Quadrangle series were made in the period between the 1890s and the 1950s and were created by the Map Division of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), to provide a detailed topographic map coverage of the entire United States at the same scale. The term Quadrangle refers to the sides of the maps which are 15 minutes of latitude and longitude in length. The series was gradually replaced by the 7.5 Minute Quadrangle series. The 15 Minute Quadrangle maps provide vital geographic, historical, and topographic information that can be used in understanding the nature of a place.

1998. Large 8vo, pp. xiii, [i], 152, [10] templates; clean and bright; in the original black publisher’s cloth, spine lettered in gilt, with the original dust-jacket, unclipped with only minor edgewear; a presentation copy from the author ‘To Michael and Vivien just to “see”. This is what brought the “fame” (see page 89). Kathleen, 15 July 2005’; a very good copy. First edition and a presentation copy, with a charming self-deprecating inscription, of this important work by the leading British mathematician and politician, Dame Kathleen Mary Ollerenshaw (1912-2014), written when she was 85, and published to international acclaim, providing for the first time an algorithm for constructing a whole class of magic squares as well as a formula for counting their number.
‘Ollerenshaw's interest in the mathematical theory of magic squares also began in the early 1980s. A magic square of order 4 is one in which in the numbers from 1 to 16 are arranged in a 4x4 array in such a way that the sum of each row, each column, and the two main diagonals add to the same total. Perhaps the most well known 4x4 magic square is the one depicted in the painting Melancholia by Albrecht Dürer. The 17th century amateur mathematician, Bernard Frénicle de Bessey, determined that there are exactly 880 essentially different 4x4 magic squares, i.e. squares that cannot be obtained from one another by rotations or reflections. He did this by an exhaustive search, listing all 880 possibilities. Ollerenshaw and Hermann Bondi, a prominent cosmologist and mathematician, developed an analytical construction of the squares, thereby verifying the number 880. They published their results in a 1982 paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society... which was reprinted a year later as a book... Ollerenshaw worked on most-perfect pandiagonal magic squares for over eight years. In a 1986 paper she made use of symmetries to determine that there are 368,340 essentially different such squares of order 8. Slowly she figured out how to construct and how to count the total number of squares, first for those whose order is a power of 2, then for squares who order is a multiple of a power of 2, and finally, after another four years of work, for all most-perfect pandiagonal magic squares with order a multiple of 4. Professor David Brée, the head of Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Manchester, assisted Ollerenshaw in organizing, proof-reading, and putting her research notes into an appropriate form to be published as a book. Most-Perfect Pandiagonal Magic Squares: Their Construction and Enumeration was published in 1998 to international acclaim and provided for the first time an algorithm for constructing a whole class of magic squares as well as a formula for counting their number, a remarkable accomplishment for a woman of age 85. In her "personal perspective" at the end of the book, Ollerenshaw writes:
"Only now, with the work complete, is it possible for me to look back and see the process as it developed, savouring in retrospect the challenge presented when proof was first attempted, and recalling each step of the astonishing mathematical adventure that it has been...The manner in which each successive application of the properties of the binomial coefficients that characterize the Pascal triangle led to the solution will always remain one of the most magical revelations that I have been fortunate enough to experience. That this should have been afforded to someone who had, with a few exceptions, been out of active mathematics research for over 40 years will, I hope, encourage others. The delight of discovery is not a privilege reserved solely for the young."’ (Larry Riddle, Agnes Scott College, Atlanta, online biography).
Ollerenshaw (née Timpson) studied mathematics at Somerville College, Oxford, and completed her doctorate in 1945. She was President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications from 1978 to 1979. Ollerenshaw published at least 26 mathematical papers, her best-known contribution being to most-perfect pandiagonal magic squares. Upon her death, she left a legacy in trust to support distinguished research visitors and public engagement activities at the School of Mathematics, University of Manchester. An annual public lecture at the University is named in her honour.
An amateur astronomer, Ollerenshaw donated her telescope to Lancaster University, and an observatory there bears her name. She was an honorary member of the Manchester Astronomical Society and held the post of Vice-President for a number of years. Dame Kathleen was Lord Mayor of Manchester from 1975 to 1976, and was an advisor on educational matters to the Thatcher government during the 1980s.

1932. 8vo, pp. 56, with 52 text illustrations, portraits, half-tones and diagrams; somewhat browned throughout due to paper quality, with some spotting and staining, pp. 45-48 with marginal nicks to fore-edge but no loss, with old accession label at head of title-page; stapled as issued in the original blue card wrappers, head and tail of spine worn with some minor loss, wrappers sunned and faded, with some further spotting, rear hinge cracked but holding, a little dog-eared with some light edgewear, and discrete tape repairs on inside front cover. Uncommon first edition of this history of gynaecology, the work of the noted Turkish physician, and later social democratic politician, Besim Ömer (later adopting the surname Akalin 1862-1940). Ömer established modern obstetrics and gynaecology in Turkey, and was the director of the Turkish Red Crescent Society. After studying at the Imperial Medical College, graduating in 1885, he served for a brief period as a military physician, before moving to Paris where he worked as an assistant physician at the Paris Höpital de la Charité, specialising in obstetrics. On his return to Turkey, he went on to establish the country’s first birthing clinic in 1892, and during his lifetime did much to organise and promote the training of nurses. Between 1935 and 1940 he served as a member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
The present work is considered to be the first modern work in Turkey on the history of obstetrics and gynaecology, and touches upon the work and influence of numerous Arabic and European pioneers in the field.

1877. 8vo, pp. ix, [i] blank, 388, [2] errata and blank; with seven folding lithograph plates, two in sepia, and four partially coloured in red and blue; text a little foxed and browned, though overall clean and crisp, final errata leaf creased; title-page fore-edge a little cropped clipping manuscript presentation inscription slightly affecting legibility; in contemporary vellum backed marbled boards, spine lettered and tooled in gilt, upper cover a little scratched with minor loss of paper, extremities lightly rubbed; a presentation copy with extensive and profuse inscription by the author of the title-page to ‘Dottre Antonio Barbõ-(Son[cin]? second named cropped) of Venice, dated ‘Roma 14.5.77’, and with later inscription in a second hand below (and somewhat illegible); and with later 20th book-stamp on front free endpaper ‘Ex-Libris dr Ivo Confontini’. First edition of this uncommon treatise on obstetric diagnosis, by the clinician Francesco Pajusco (also Paiusco, 1842-1881). Divided into three sections, this technical work highlighting physical methods of external and internal examination and diagnosis, deals in turn with the stages of pregnancy, childbirth, and finally ‘dello stato puerperale’. The work is accompanied by seven folding lithograph plates.
Pajusco, from Vincenza, graduated from Padua when he remained as an assistant for three years. He later became an extraordinary professor of obstetrics in Sassari on Sardinia, before becoming full professor at the University of Catania. He died at the age of 36 in 1881, whilst on a visit to Berlin as part of a scientific mission on behalf of the Ministry of Education. He was the author of a second work, ‘Fisiologia ed igiene del parto’ in 1878: both works were well received by his peers.
Pajusco has penned and an extensive and profuse presentation inscription on the title-page, to a colleague, whom we believe to be the fellow Paduan Antonio Barbo-Soncin, although the inscription has been cropped close a little. ‘All ‘Illustrissimo Signor Cav.re Dott.re Antoni Barbo-Son[cin] Direttore La Gazetta Medica delle Provincie Vene[te], Direttore del Civico Spedale d. Padova ece. In uqua di perfetto estima et di profonda consideraione l’Autore. Roma 14.5.77. 11 Via della Vi[?]’. A second shorter note in a second hand follows, but is sadly somewhat illegible, although suggests that the book was passed on once again in 1879.

1871. 8vo, pp. [2], 152; with colour title-page vignette of the red cross; browned throughout due to paper quality, with some foxing and spotting, and occasional light marginal dampstaining, and faint white paint mark affecting upper margin of p. 1; uncut in the original printed drab wrappers, with red cross vignette on upper cover, head and tail of spine cracked and chipped with some loss, with further minor tears to spine, covers darkened and soiled, with white paint on upper margin of front cover, extremities all somewhat furled and nicked, and overall slightly dog-eared, but still a good copy of a scarce work. Scarce first and only edition of this less well-known work by Pirogov, considered the greatest Russian surgeon and one of the greatest military surgeons of all time. ‘At the invitation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Pirogov inspected military hospitals during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the Russian-Turkish War of 1877–1878. During these trips, Pirogov noted that many of the provisions previously expressed by him regarding the organization of assistance and treatment of the wounded were implemented. The result of the inspections was the publication of two more major works devoted to the issues of military field surgery: A report on a visit to military medical institutions in Germany, Lorraine and Alsace in 1870 (1871) and Military medicine and private assistance in the theater of war in Bulgaria and in the rear of the active army in 1877-1878 (1879). With regard to these works, the outstanding surgeon Ernst von Bergmann, who worked at the universities of Russia and Germany, wrote: ‘We will never forget that our German surgery... rests on the works of the Russian Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov’ (Samohvalov & Reva, Military Field Surgeon, in the Anniversary Issue, Bulletin of Pirogov National Medical & Surgical Centre p. 22). Pirigov was particularly pleased to see that his recommendations on the use of plaster casts to had by this time been widely adopted. He had been the first to use plaster of paris dressings in the treatment of mass casualties during the Crimean war, developing his own technique, independently of Mathijsen (whose work he knew). His methods and application consisted of using coarse cloth, either in large pieces or in strips, that were immersed in a liquid mixture of plaster of paris immediately before applying them to the limbs which were protected by stockings and cotton pads. Large dressings were reinforced by pieces of wood. On the basis of his wartime experiences, Pirogov believed that all patients with fractures due to missile wounds should not be evacuated from the forward dressing stations until the limb had been immobilized in a proper dressing of plaster of paris. As a result of his and Mathijsen’s work, plaster of paris casts had been generally adopted by military and civilian surgeons throughout Europe by 1870.
It was also during the Crimean crisis, that Pirogov, with the help of his patron, the Grand Duchess Helene Pavlovna, became instrumental in establishing a female nurse corps to improve the care of the Russian sick and wounded, at the same time that Florence Nightingale was beginning a similar program in British military hospitals. Pirigov is credited with having conceived the idea of the Russian Red Cross Society, through the formation in 1854 of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Community of Sisters of Mercy for the help of wounded soldiers of Crimean War. The first group of nurses gathered 35 women, with the numbers soon rising to 250. As surgeon general during the Crimea, he introduced the mass use of anaesthesia in surgical operations at the front, during the Sebastopol siege, and developed triage on the battlefield, sorting patients according to the severity of their wounds, and was an early advocate of the importance of hygiene, which he emphasized in his later classic work on military surgery based upon his military experiences, Grundzüge der allgemeinen Kriegschirurgie in 1864. An ardent medical educator and reformer, having witnessed the terrible conditions during the siege of Sebastopol, he came once again into conflict with military administration, and after his sharp criticism of the campaign, was forced to resign his surgical professorship at St. Petersburg’s Academy of Military Medicine in 1856. He then entered the Ministry of Education where he held several key positions before his retirement, becoming an active social reformer, as well as an outspoken advocate of the freedom and higher education of women.

1910. 8vo, pp. 294; with 60 text engravings, a number partially coloured in red; lightly browned throughout due to paper quality, with occasional minor foxing, gutter cracked at p. 3; with old library stamp at head of title-page; in contemporary black morocco over marbled boards, spine with white printed paper label, label a little darkened with some light edge-wear and nicking, covers a little scuffed and scratched, with minor loss on rear cover, extremities bumped and lightly worn; a good copy. Second revised and expanded edition, first published in Moscow in 1901 of this ‘beginner’s guide’, considered to be the first independent Russian attempt to provide a detailed summary of the most convenient methods of autopsy, the work of the noted pathologist Mikhail Mikhailovich Pokrovsky (1863-1920), founder of the pathology department in Tomsk University, and considered one of the pre-eminent medical professors of his day, and in pre-Revolutionary Russia. Chapters also highlight the important body changes likely to be encountered on corpses due to disease.
Mikhail Pokrovsky graduated from the Military Medical Academy in 1888, going on to work for nearly ten years at the Imperial Moscow University, when he became assistant professor in 1898. The first edition of the present work was published in 1901 whilst still in Moscow, the year before he moved to the position of dissector at the St. Petersburg Women’s Medical Institute. He remained there for six years, becoming a State Councillor. In 1908 he was elected an extraordinary professor at the Department of Pathological Anatomy and Pathological Histology, part of the Imperial Tomsk University, subsequently becoming Professor, and he was to remain in charge of the Tomsk department throughout the First World War and the October Revolution. In addition to the present work he is remembered for his 1916 general text book of pathology ‘Principles of Pathology’. In 1920 he moved to Nizhny Novgorod, where he was a professor in the Department of General Pathology until his death in the following year.

1930. 8vo, pp. 62; with numerous illustrations; some light marginal dampstaining throughout; with loosely inserted attractive coloured compliments slip from the publisher, and a pictorial bookmark on Throat & Nose Hygiene; stapled as issued in the original cream wrappers, printed in green and black, staples a little rusted, covers somewhat dampstained and soiled. An appealing and evocative public health pamphlet from the early 1930s. Published by Newton, Chambers & Co., Limited, based near Sheffield, and costing 1 shilling, the work was also at some point freely distributed to readers of various local newspapers. Full of practical advice, as well as sections on the laws relating to infectious diseases, and first aid, the work is copiously illustrated, and also contains a number of strategically placed advertisements for Izal Solution

1905. Large 8vo, pp. [iv], 426, [2] imprint; catalogue copiously illustrated throughout, with prices given; some light foxing and soiling; a few gutters exposed in places, but holding firm; in the original printed green card wrappers, book block a little shaken, head and tail of spine worn with slight loss, upper joint cracked but holding, with lower joint cracked at head, spine a little sunned, covers slightly creased and spotted, extremities a little dog-eared; still a good copy. A wonderful priced trade catalogue from the turn of the twentieth century, promoting a myriad of medical and surgical equipment as manufactured by the prize-winning instrument makers, the Rainal brothers, Léon and Jules, renowned in particular for making orthopaedic devices and corsets. The catalogue is divided into 29 sections covering a wide range of medical specialities, though it is the sections highlighting their numerous orthopaedic devices that are particularly striking - and in some cases slightly terrifying! The catalogue begins with a section on ‘bandages herniarires’, with detailed sections on physiological corsets, ‘mécanothérapie’, ‘ankylose’, ‘prosthèse’, ‘appareils pour malades et blessés’, equipment for the care of babies, including incubators, and concluding with a range of ENT instruments.
In 1899 the brothers published Le Bandage herniaire, a comprehensive account of the treatment of hernias, providing both an historical and present day discussion on the use of surgical trusses, including their own observations carried out over twenty-five years of private practice.

-1870s.]. 8vo, carte de visite photograph album, ff. 15 leaves of thick card, with images on both recto and verso, and comprising a lithograph introductory text within a garland border, followed by 28 numbered albumen print photographs of comical drawings, also within matching garland borders, each with lithographed text mounted below, the ‘windows for each surrounded by chromolithograph triple gilt ruled border; somewhat dust-soiled throughout with some marginal staining, first window previously torn but now repaired, the photographs all a little faded, more so towards the end, top corners of each card clipped for easier insertion into windows, small tear at tail of ff. 2, with further light wear and occasional minor tears to each, and cards a little awkward to remove; bound within the original elaborate blindstamped red morocco album, though now considerably darkened appearing almost brown, upper cover lettered in gilt 'The Club Adventures of Alderman Akeinside', sympathetically newly rebacked to style with new endpapers and later morocco label, spine with raised bands, all edges gilt and with inner gilt dentelles, with remains of brass clasps; a most unusual and appealing ephemeral item. A wonderful and somewhat curious piece of mid to late Victoriana, and seemingly a rare production. We have so far been unable to find any record of ‘B & Co. London (Wholesale), and have only found two copies held by Institutions, and none in the UK.
Presented as a carte de visite photograph album, the work contains 29 ‘cartes’, the first of which is a lithograph introductory text, followed by 28 numbered albumen print photographs of comical drawings illustrating the gluttonous night-out of Alderman Akeinside at his club, his inebriated return home, and his final consultation with Dr. Sloe and Mrs. Akeinside. Though slightly hard to remove from their ‘windows’ (each framed by a gilt ruled border), each card has the imprint 'Published by B. & Co. London (Wholesale)', within a circle on the verso, though undated. Harvard hold what is presumably the original manuscript version, and which they date to 1850, and which contains ‘pen, pencil and watercolour’ drawings, each signed ‘GB’ or ‘GBR’. Toronto holds a copy of the present later version including the albumen carte-de-visite prints, most probably photographs of the original album held at the Houghton, and which they date to 1860.
From the Introduction: 'August ye 12th. 18-- Dine at the Club tomorrow ? Of course I shall, whoever heard of such a thing ? Mrs. A. wont eat turtle, never did: I dont like Ice: because I once fell into the Serpentine: no wonder she dont know the difference between Turtle and boiled Goose!! Some people dont know the difference between a sheeps head and a Carrot!'.

1810. Large letterpress broadside, 785 x 535mm, printed on two single sheets of laid paper and then neatly adhered together horizontally in the centre, text in three columns, with two vertical geometric woodcut dividing borders, some light foxing and soiling, evidence of previous horizontal and vertical folds, some creasing, uncut with some minor edgewear, and evidence of previous later mount on verso at tail, and with contemporary title in brown ink ‘remedie secrets’ on verso; a lovely example. A scarce survivor and fine example of this Imperial decree issued to regulate secret remedies in France, of importance in the history of proprietary remedies. This large letterpress broadside, printed in three columns on two on two sheets and joined together, has been printed in Nîmes in the Gard department of Southern France.
Matthew Ramsey, in his essay ‘Property Rights and the right to health: The regulation of Secret Remedies in France, 1789-1815’ (Chapter five of ‘Medical Fringe and Medical Orthodoxy’ edited by W Bynum and Roy Porter, Routledge, 2019) provides a detailed and fascinating account of the various attempts to regulate Secret Remedies, a contentious issue which attempted to balance, often rather precariously, the Enlightenment ideals of the right to property with the right to health. ‘The complexities of the relationship between fringe and orthodox medicine in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are nowhere more apparent than in the history of proprietary medicines, or remèdes secrets, as they were known in France. Such remedies were neither officinal (standard preparations from the pharmacopoeia that the apothecaries kept in stock) nor magistral (compounded according to a physician’s prescription for a particular case). As the French term indicates, their formula was a trade secret; and as the English term suggests, this secret was the property of the inventor or other owner who exploited it commercially’. Such preparations had flourished and abounded for centuries, though had long fallen foul of physicians and apothecaries, who opposed quack doctors or healers. Since an absolute prohibition was not a practical possibility, state regulation of some form was the only answer. As early as 1352 a Royal Edict was passed in France in 1352 which forbade preparations of secret remedies, but over the centuries many were authorized through warrants, and they continued to flourish. The 18th century, however, saw more concerted efforts to control the secret trade, notably after the French Revolution during wider efforts to regulate the Medical Professions and suppress abuses which threatened public health. Yet this insistence on regulation, and notably restrictions on the development and distribution of secret remedies, ran counter to the overriding principles of intellectual and economic freedom, and whilst several decrees were passed between 1789 and 1815, ultimately it was not until 1926 that secret remedies were abolished in France. Property rights overrode concern for public health.
The first decree of note was that of 1803, the ‘Germinal Law’, which followed a few weeks after law regulating medical practice, and was primarily concerned with the education and licensure of pharmacists and the repression of illegal practice of pharmacy. In October of that year a commission was organised, and a set of instructions prepared for owners of secret remedies who had to comply with the new law. It did not expressly ban the sale of secret remedies altogether, however, and was again something of a compromise. Whilst there were prohibitions on advertising or hawking them, subsequent decrees, including one of 1805 actually confirmed the rights of vendors whose remedies had been approved by the government, and in some cases reasserted rights and privileges previously granted under the patents law of 1791. Approved remedies could be sold in Paris and the provinces if they were authorised by local officials; and though to be submitted before the commission, vendors were not obliged to divulge their secret.
As the present Imperial Decree demonstrates, despite the best efforts of the authorities, the secret remedy trade continued to flourish in all its forms. This final effort sought to free society of secret remedies, and its declared purpose was to disseminate knowledge of good remedies whilst discouraging the sale of bad ones. The state would buy and make public the recipes of useful compositions, asserting that it was the duty of owners to co-operate in having them published. All previous permissions would be nullified. Proprietors would submit their recipes to the Minister of the Interior, together with an account of their use and a record of clinical experience to date. A five member commission was established, including three professors from the faculties of medicine, and headed by the distinguished anatomist François Chaussier, professor at the Paris faculty and an authority on medical jurisprudence. As laid out in the present decree, this commission would determine whether the remedy was harmless; if harmless, whether it was useful; and if useful, what price should be paid to acquire it. Once a remedy had been approved, the minister would negotiate an agreement with the inventor, and once confirmed by a State Council, the formula would be published. No inventor would receive an approbation if he insisted on keeping his remedy secret. The law’s larger intent, was not only to protect the public health, by preventing the use of drugs that had no value or contained unknown substances, but also to ‘spread enlightenment’ and ‘discourage charlatanism’.
In the end, however, this 1810 attempt also miscarried, once again compromised by the government’s respect for the inventor’s or owner’s interest and rights to his remedy. ‘In Napoleonic France, the right of property remained ‘inviolable and sacred’; it could and often did outweigh the claims of public health. Although the regimes that followed the First Empire were to create other regulatory institutions, this retreat from the Enlightenment commitment to end secrecy in therapeutics set the pattern for the rest of the century and beyond’ (Ramsey p. 81).

1906. Small folio, pp. 8; with 40 leaves of printed diagnostic charts, illustrating the same two images of a rear and front image of the body, each leaf serrated at gutter and designed to be torn off and completed by the physician, with blank lines are tail of each leaf for notes; in modern grey paper wrappers, stab sewn, retaining the original front printed grey wrapper and bound in, and with facsimile of original title-page mounted on upper cover; ex-libris for the Royal College of Surgeons, with stamp on original wrapper, title-page, and with two stamps on verso of each leaf of plates, dated 1906. Rare second edition of this unusual practical neurological aid, intended to be used ‘at the hospital bedside’ to help the segmental diagnosis of spinal column diseases for individual cases, and thus form part of a patients case notes file. After a brief introduction, the pamphlet is made up of 20 identical sets of detachable anterior and posterior outline sketches of the body, upon which the practitioner could mark the particular areas of sensitivity on the body. As the introduction notes: ‘The present scheme is intended to fill a gap in the series of schemes available so far. The latter dealt only with the boundaries of the peripheral nerve districts, which are known to be totally different from those of the spinal or root areas on the skin. These and other disadvantages, in particular the lack of sufficiently marked fixed points on the sink and the bone system, make the peripheral sensitivity schemes unsuitable for spinal purposes’ (google translation). Designed to be used and effectively destroyed, the survival of complete copies is therefore rare.
The work was first published in 1901, seemingly both separately, and as a journal article in the Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten. It was to prove popular with both a third and fourth editions appearing in 1911 and 1917.
Friedrich Wilhelm Seiffer (1872-1917) was a noted German neurologist and psychiatrist. He received his medical doctorate from Strasbourg in 1895 and worked at a private mental health institution in Pankow-Berlin. He subsequently worked at the psychiatric clinic of the Berlin-Charité. He was the author of further works on the general diagnosis and treatment of nervous diseases in 1902, and ‘Studies on the sense of vibration or the so-called ‘bone-sensitivity’’ in 1903, together with Rydel.

1898. 8vo; pp. viii, 576; with some 200 text illustrations and half-tones, and numerous tables within text; browned throughout due to paper quality, more prominently so around margins; with some occasional minor marginal nicks; in contemporary red roan backed marbled boards, spine ruled in black and lettered in gilt, tail of spine nicked with small loss, joints somewhat rubbed, with some scraping and scuffing to roan, with light scuffing and rubbing to surfaces, extremities lightly worn, more prominent along tail of upper cover. Fourth and expanded edition (first 1882) of this detailed account and analysis of both the French transport system, together with a comparison of other systems across the world. Originally the work of Ferdinand Sérafon, ‘Ingénieur civil, ancien Directeur des Tramways de Lille, ancien Ingénieur en chef d’une Société de Chemins de fer sur routes’ (first edition title-page), this later edition is ascribed to ‘E. Serafon’ (but from the preface clearly the original author so perhaps an typo), with revisions by H. de Graffigny ‘Ingénieur Civil Directeur de la Petite Encyclopédie électro-mécanique’, and J. B. Dumas ‘Conductuer principal au service municipal des travaux de Paris, en retraite’. Henri de Graffigny, the pseudonym of Raoul Henri Clément Marquis (1863-1934), was a hugely successful popular scientific writer on a myriad of topics, and indeed a short list of his publications is included on the title-page verso.
By the 1870s it was becoming clear that Paris needed a public transport system other than the existing omnibus and tramway services. London already had a network of inner city and suburban railways, notably the shallow underground lines, and the US had seen the development of effective street railroad or tramway networks. A keen student of international advancement, Ferdinand Sérafon had already published two comprehensive studies on the subject, highlighting in particular developments in London in Étude sur les chemins de fer, les tramways et les moyens de transport en commun à Paris et à Londres (1872), and with a wider survey undertaken in Manuel Pratique de la construction des chemins de fer des rues (1877), but noting US developments. The present work was clearly a continuation upon those themes, Sérafon a fervent exponent of tramways, and leading the charge to adopt old road routes for new railway lines, as a cost effective method. The work compares and contrasts systems employed in Britain, the US, as well as other parts of Europe. Attractively illustrated, it includes a wealth of technical information on all areas of construction and exploitation, and provides a fascinating insight into the rapid growth of public transport systems at the end of the 19th century.