DUNANT, Jean Henry.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Un souvenir de Solferino. First edition of Dunant's account of the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino, describing the chaotic circumstances and developing the idea of a neutral organization to provide care to wounded soldiers. Privately printed at Dunant's expense and distributed to leading European political and military figures, the report was instrumental in the establishment of the Red Cross the following year."Dunant, a Swiss philanthropist, must have been aware of Florence Nightingale's work in the Crimea, for it was what he read of the treatment of the sick and wounded in that war that drove him to the seat of the war in Italy between the French and the Austrians in 1859. He was present at the battle of Solferino, where the casualties were appalling, totalling nearly 40,000 on both sides. The treatment of the wounded was worse than callous: it was virtually non-existent. Dunant's account of the state of affairs, disarmingly entitled A Souvenir of Solferino, produced almost immediate results. An unofficial international conference met in Geneva in October 1863, and in the following year the Swiss Government called for an official conference at which the Geneva Convention was drawn up and signed on 22 August 1864. This provided for the humane treatment of the sick and the wounded, and the proper treatment of prisoners of war and the civilian population. After hesitation on the part of some governments, including the British, and as the result of subsequent conferences,

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.