"THOSE THAT ARE SO MEAN, THAT THEY CAN'T APPREHEND THE LANGUAGE I WRITE, OUGHT NOT TO READ IT, NOR DABBLE IN PHYSIC": FULLER'S COLLECTION OF PRESCRIPTIONS, MEDICINES AND REMEDIES, 1714 EXPANDED SECOND EDITION IN ENGLISH

FULLER, Thomas. Pharmacopoeia Extemporanea: Or, A Body of Medicines, Containing a Thousand Select Prescripts… London: William Innys, 1714. Octavo, contemporary full dark brown paneled calf rebacked, elaborately gilt-decorated spine, raised bands, red morocco spine label.

Second edition in English, "with large additions," of Fuller's popular compilation of prescriptions and remedies.

Fuller was a British physician, minister and intellectual. He practiced medicine at Sevenoaks and published several books on medicine. Intended "for the assistance of young Physicians," Pharmacopoeia Extemporanea is a rare early work in the field of medicine and treatment. "Fuller's publishing career began in 1700 with an appendix to the third edition of Pharmacopoeia Bateana, the prescriptions of George Bate, consisting of material given him by Bate's daughter. Fuller published three collections of prescriptions, Pharmacopoeia extemporanea (1702, in Latin), his own edition of Bateana (1718), and Pharmacopoeia domestica (1723). All went into several editions, and in 1710 Fuller, warned of a pirated translation of Extemporanea, reluctantly published an English version. As well as a history of his method of accumulating the prescriptions, he gives an insight into the professional attitudes of his time: 'If any say I have fill'd it full of hard Words, I confess I have so, and that partly upon direct Design, that I might… keep myself close from being searched and rifled by every illiterate Quack and busy Gossip… And those that are so mean, that they can't apprehend the language I write, ought not to read it, nor dabble in Physic' (Pharmacopoeia Extemporanea, preface to English edition of 1710). Extemporanea was subsequently translated into French and German and published in Venice, Lausanne, Louvain, Amsterdam, and Paris" (ODNB). Pharmacopoeia Extemporanea contains remedies for numerous ailments, from recipes for Antimonial Ale and Stomach Wine to various pills and powders. First published in Latin in 1702; first edition in English appeared in 1710. Blake, 163. Not in Garrison and Morton or Osler.

Occasional minor toning to text, expert leather restoration to corners. An extremely good, handsome copy.