The Red Cross. In presentation binding.
Publisher Information: 1880-91.
Goetz, Wolfgang. The Red Cross, a monthly journal for practical instruction, to aid the sick and wounded in military and civic life. Vol. I, no. 3 (all published?). Bound from parts, variously paginated, original printed wrappers bound in; two presentation leaves bound in the front of the volume, the second inscribed: “(see page 11 part 3.) Dr. Goetz.” 9 plates, text illustrations. 272 x 198 mm. Presentation Copy, in special binding of half calf gilt, silk boards (expertly rebacked preserving original spine); all edges gilt; front cover stamped in gilt: “In memory to Hugh J. Grant Mayor of the City of New York 1891.” Very good.
First Edition. Rare, with only one copy recorded in OCLC (National Library of Medicine). This curious American medical periodical is identified as “Volume I, no. 3” on the title, but this is the only number of the journal recorded in OCLC, and it appears that no others were ever published.
According to the title-page, The Red Cross was intended to be “a complete family medical library, with much valuable instruction and information for the soldiers, veterans, police, firemen, school teachers, nurses, midwives, ambulance and Red Cross corps . . .with many illustrations, including a complete illustrated history of the battlefield of the Franco-German war, 1870-71, and the principal battles of the late war of the United States.” Goetz presented this copy in 1891 to Hugh J. Grant (1858-1910), who served as mayor of New York City from 1889-91; elected to this office at the age of 31, Grant remains the youngest mayor in the city’s history.
Goetz, a former military surgeon to New York’s 11th Regiment, later set up a private medical practice in New York City. His office, on St. Nicholas Avenue near 147th Street, is illustrated in The Red Cross’s final plate, and his wood-engraved portrait (sporting medals and impressive facial hair) appears in two advertisements for the Red Cross Corps of New York. Goetz was involved with the powerful Democratic machine known as Tammany Hall, which controlled New York City politics at the time; as a political operative, he advocated for sanitation reform, even patenting a garbage-collecting device in 1895. In 1890 Goetz campaigned for Mayor Grant’s re-election, issuing a broadside (bound into the front of this copy) emphasizing the “improvements for health and comfort” Grant had overseen during his first term, including upgrades to the city’s streets, parks, municipal buildings and Board of Health. At the foot of this leaf Goetz wrote a signed note to Grant, referring Grant to an article praising his regulation of New York’s Department of Charities and Correction.
Book Id: 44569Price: $2,500.00