Surgery, 1649, "Les Oeuvres De Chirurgie De Jacques Guillemeau" (The Works of Surgery of Jacques Guillemeau).

Important medicine and surgery book with full information about all types of interventions, tools and practices from the period. This folio-sized treatise comes from France where it was published in 1640. It was written by Jacques Guillemeau and its full title is Les Oeuvres De Chirurgie De Jacques Guillemeau, Chirurgien Ordinaire Du Roy et Jure a Paris. Avec Les Portraicts et Figures De Toutes Les Parties Du Corps Humain, & Des Instrumens Necessaires Au Chirurgien. Augmentees, et Mises En Un. We can read the title printed in two inks on the first page, together with an engraving that depicts a vase or basket with flowers and the year of publication in roman numbers. This page also shows an ex libris handwritten inscription. The book contains a number of chapters with different sections on anatomy, blood vessels, different pathologies, surgical tools Curiously enough, we can also find a specific chapter on pest and another one about embalming methods. The pages are well preserved though some of them show stains of moisture and foxing traces, something logical if we consider the ancient age of a book which is more than 350 years old. The author, Jacques Guillemeau (1550-1613), was an important physician and pioneering surgeon in the field of obstetrics, pediatrics and ophthalmology. The book contains thirty-three full-page engravings and several illustrations printed between the contents. The engravings are neat and appealing, performed with great attention to detail and singularly decorative. On the other hand, the binding is not the original one: it was added years later and is well preserved. It is covered of reddish brown leather and the spine is embellished with gold-plated hot-stamped raised bands and motives. The spine contains two sections colored black and red with the authors name and the books title: LES OEUVRES DE CHIRURGIE. This amazing book is an indispensable treatise about 17th-century medicine, written by a prestigious author and with gorgeous engravings. Measurements: Width: 9.2 in / 23.5 cm. Height: 14.1 in /36 cm.