Certaine workes of chirurgerie
Publisher Information: London: Rouland Hall, 1563.
Gale, Thomas (1507-87). Certaine workes of chirurgerie, newly compiled and published by Thomas Gale, maister in chirurgerie. 4 parts in 1 volume. [16], 53, [6]; [5], 58; [3], 19, [2]; [4], 90ff.; lacking blank leaves K8 and 2H8. 5 folding tables. Woodcut portrait of Gale (repeated 3 times), woodcut title vignettes and text illustrations. London: Rouland Hall, 1563. 160 x 110 mm. 20th-century morocco, spine slightly faded. Marginal repairs to a few leaves, library stamp unobtrusively removed from lower margin of title, one table with marginal tear and with folds repaired, last leaf repaired, moderate foxing and dampstaining, but very good.
First Edition of the first treatise on surgery written in English, which also contains the first mention of syphilis in the English literature. This work is extremely rare. The last complete copy sold appeared at auction in 1994.
Gale, sometimes called “the English Paré,” served as an army surgeon under Henry VIII and was Serjeant Surgeon to Elizabeth I. “Gale was a prolific author, and like his great contemporaries, Amboise Paré and Felix Würtz, he wrote in his native tongue rather that the dog Latin of the period. His An Excellent Treatise of Wounds Made with Gonneshotte . . . [Garrison-Morton.com 2140] published in 1563, as the third part of his Certaine Works of Chirurgerie, is notable for confuting the assertion of such surgical titans as John de Vigo and Hieronymus Brunschwig that gunshot wounds were envenomed and hence to be treated with boiling oil. Gale was also a conservative in advising against the brutal probing for a missile lodged in the body, since he says that the probing very likely may of itself be mortal. However, Gale did not hold with wounds healing by first intention and insisted that they be continually dressed with salves and embrocations. Indeed, his treatise is replete with an endless assortment of ointments and weird concoctions, a number of which Gale had probably concocted himself” (Leonardo, The Lives of Master Surgeons [1949], p. 172). Garrison-Morton.com 2371. ESTC S102805.
Book Id: 50683
Price: $30,000.00