A Collection of Tracts, Chirurgical and Medical; viz.

£750 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books · No longer available

Second edition of this unusual and uncommon collection of medical tracts by the physician John Colbatch (1666?-1729). Colbatch began his career as an apothecary, promoting his own 'Vulnerary Powder and Tincture of the Sulphur of Venus, which he claimed to have found empirically through his own studies, chemical experiments, and other experiments on dogs and other animals. The first remedy he promoted as being able to stop bleeding quickly even in very bad wounds, the second as restoring wounded flesh'. These were greeted with scepticism by the medical establishment, and what followed was a series of public tests and a pamphlet war, with this volume collecting Colbatch's missives on the matter. In 1696 he was admitted to the Royal College of Physicians and had a successful and prosperous career, receiving a knighthood in 1716. Second edition; 8vo (18.5 x 10.5 cm); additional title pages for each section, lacking leaf L2, final 3 leaves tipped-in, contemporary ink notes and marks in the margins, contents toned and spotted with uneven dampstaining; later half roan, brown pebble-grain cloth sides, title to spine gilt, endpapers renewed, red speckled edges; 568pp.

• Binding: Hardcover

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