A System of Surgery. Extracted from the Works of Benjamin Bell, of Edinburgh.
Philadelphia: Printed by T. Dobson, at the Stone-House, No. 41, South Second-Street, 1791. First edition of the Waters abridgment, appearing the same year as the Isaiah Thomas four-volume edition that was advertised as the first American edition. 8vo (8.13 x 5 inches), contemporary calf, raised bands, red leather label, gilt lettering, viii, 570, xxix, [1] pages. Twelve copper-engraved plates, engraved by James Trenchard. Some light rubbing; some light browning and foxing scattered throughout; front free endpaper a little loose along the gutter; a very good copy. Item #20328
"Surgery teaches us the knowledge of all those diseases which require manual operations for their removal; their causes; and the methods of preventing and of curing them. For some years past it has been a subject of regret with the medical part of the public, and particularly among students, that we have had no work on this imporant branch of medicine, which gives a view of the present state of the art, in a moderate compass: Mr. Bell's system, although a most valuable production, being extended to so great a length, as to be not only expensive, but exceedingly inconvenient." Scientific surgery comes to America in this abridgment compiled by Philadelphia physician Nicholas B. Waters (ca. 1760-1794), with editorial advice from both Dr. William Shippen and Dr. John Jones (who died in Philadelphia in June, 1791), formerly of King's College in New York. The attractive engraved plates of surgical equipment and prosthetic devices are executed by the Philadelphia artist James Trenchard, who had also been an artist and publisher at the pioneering Columbian Magazine. The final errata page includes a mounted cancel slip. Bold contemporary ink ownership inscription to the front free endpaper, Doct. Jacob Fuller Providence R. I.," with a larger and even more attractive slightly later inscription to the front blank, "Joseph Lee's Property purchased at Providence Paid 16/0," with Lee's neat signature to the title. Austin 171; Evans 23170.
Price: $500.00