[Rarebooks] fa: JOHN HUNTER - NATURAL HISTORY & DISEASES OF THE TEETH + TREATISE ON THE BLOOD

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auctions ending Sunday, January 29. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/7cy66kw

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HUMAN TEETH + DISEASES OF THE TEETH - 1803
FIRST SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF TEETH w/16 FINE PLATE LEAVES
John Hunter: The Natural History of the Human Teeth: Explaining their Structure, Use, Formation, Growth, and Diseases. To which is added, A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of the Teeth. London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1803. Third edition. Half brown leather (or leatherette) and ribbed cloth; 4to (27 cm); [6] + 246 + [10] pp. + 16 leaves of plates.
Front paste-down with the handsome engraved bookplate of The Archibald Church Library, Northwestern University Medical School (now part of the Galter Health Sciences Library); card pocket on rear paste-down; perforated stamp on 2 text leaves; no other library markings to the plates, contents or binding. Some rubbing and wear to the corners and hinges; the text leaves with some offsetting and mild toning, but quite clean and fresh. The plates, after Jan van Rymsdyk, and the accompanying leaves of explanation, which are printed on noticeably thicker and whiter paper, are very fine indeed, stunningly bright and crisp. An externally sound, internally superb copy.
The first edition in which both of Hunter's landmark works, the Natural History and the Practical Treatise, were published together. "Working… in the ignominious field of dentistry in the 1760s prompted Hunter to produce his first major work of research—a treatise on the teeth and jaws—which would be published in two parts in 1771 and 1778, The Natural History of the Human Teeth and A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of the Teeth. It was the first work to consider the teeth in a truly scientific manner, describing in detail the anatomy and physiology of the teeth and jaws, and would be considered one of the most important books in the history of dentistry… His comprehensive descriptions of the anatomy of the teeth, facial muscles, and bones of the jaws, with sixteen exquisite drawings by van Rymsdyk, are considered remarkable for their accuracy even today. Some later practitioners would regard him as the father of modern dentistry" (Wendy Moore: The Knife Man: Blood, Body Snatching, and the Birth of Modern Surgery; Broadway Books, 2005). In the Natural History, Hunter first introduces the four classes of cuspids, bicuspids, molars and incisors. In the Treatise, he describes in detail the fascinating, if gruesome, process of living tooth transplantation.



TREATISE ON BLOOD, INFLAMMATION & GUNSHOT WOUNDS Philadelphia 1817
w/ EARLY VIRGINIA DOCTOR'S BOOKPLATE - ENGRAVED PLATES
John Hunter: A Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, and Gun-shot Wounds. Philadelphia: Published by James Webster; W. Brown, Printer, 1817. Full period tree calf with gilt-stamped morocco spine label; 8vo (22 cm); [iii]-viii [v]-vi, xii, viii, 514 p.; with the half-title and 8 leaves of engraved plates.
Early American printing (the second) of Hunter's groundbreaking work, first published in 1794. "Summarizing the fruits of his experiences as a young army surgeon during the Seven Years' War," Hunter proposed "that conservative treatment — what he called 'being very quiet' — was the most effective remedy for gunshot injuries… that meddling with the wound generally led to to a worse outcome than leaving the injury alone…" Additionally, "while his contemporaries viewed infection as an unavoidable stage of healing, Hunter regarded it as a failure of treatment… Not until 1867, when Joseph Lister published his successful trials using antiseptics to fight infection, would Hunter's radical view be finally accepted" (Wendy Moore: The Knife Man: Blood, Body Snatching, and the Birth of Modern Surgery; Broadway Books, 2005).
Complete with the half-title page and eight leaves of plates. Minimal library markings consist of a perforated stamp on the half-title and one leaf of the text, and remnants of a card pocket on the rear paste-down. Binding's corners a bit bumped, hinges rubbed; scattered foxing and spotting to the leaves; two or three leaves with paper imperfections causing small losses at the margins, not affecting any text; otherwise a sound and firmly and handsomely bound copy of a foundational work of medicine. Front paste-down with the early/contemporary bookplate of "Peter Hales, Virginia," possibly the Dr. Peter Hales who resided in Prince Edward County in the early part of the nineteenth century.