General System of Surgery First Edition - Laurence Heister - Bauman Rare Books

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General System of Surgery

Laurence HEISTER

Item#: 108088 We're sorry, this item has been sold

General System of Surgery

General System of Surgery

General System of Surgery

General System of Surgery

General System of Surgery

"THE MOST POPULAR SURGICAL TEXT OF THE 18TH CENTURY": HEISTER'S GENERAL SYSTEM OF SURGERY, 1743 FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, WITH 38 FOLDING ENGRAVED PLATES

HEISTER, Laurence. A General System of Surgery in Three Parts. London: W. Innys, C. Davis, J. Clark, R. Manby and J. Whiston, 1743. Quarto, contemporary full brown marbled calf sympathetically rebacked, raised bands, red morocco spine label.

First edition in English of this comprehensive guide to surgery by "the founder of scientific surgery in Germany" (Garrison & Morton), illustrated with 38 folding copper-engraved plates depicting 18th-century surgical tools and techniques.

"Heister is the founder of scientific surgery in Germany. His book contains many interesting illustrations and includes an account of tourniquets used in his time; Heister introduced a spinal brace. This was the most popular surgical text of the 18th century; it underwent numerous editions and translations" (Garrison & Morton). The General System of Surgery "was the standard work on surgery throughout the 18th century, becoming one of the most translated, most used, and most respected texts ever written" (Heirs of Hippocrates 797). Heister was Professor of Physic and Surgery at the University of Helmstadt. First published in German and in Latin, at Nuremberg, in 1718; his popular General System went through eight editions in English alone between the years 1743 and 1768. Garrison & Morton 5576. Waller 4234. Wellcome III, 237. Owner ink signature on title page, dated 1780; old gift inscription from one doctor to another.

Two text leaves remargined (pp. 291-94 in Part II), a very few plates with minor edge-wear or marginal repairs, images generally clean and fine; contemporary calf binding nicely rebacked and restored. An excellent copy.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
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Wood-Engraving Engraving made with the graver or burin on the cross-section of a piece of boxwood; the harder wood and finer tools allow for more delicate, finely detailed images, while the block can still be set in the page alongside text and printed on the same stock as the text. While much older, wood engravings enjoyed an important renaissance in the late eighteenth century through Thomas Bewick and continued in popularity thorugh the nineteenth century.
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