Laennec, Diseases of the Chest, 3rd English, Norman Shaftel's copy
A Treatise of the Diseases of the Chest and on Mediate Auscultation. By R. T. H. Laennec, M.D. Regius Professor of Medicine in the College of France, Clinical Professor to the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, Physician to Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Berri, &c. &c. &c. Translated from the Latest French Edition, with Notes and a Sketch of the Author’s Life, by John Forbes, M.D. Member of the Royal College of Physicians, and Senior Physician to the Chichester Infirmary. With Plates. Third Edition Revised, with Additional Notes. London: Printed for Thomas & George Underwood, Fleet-Street. 1829.
Half brown leather with marbled paper over boards. Gold text and raised bands on spine. Mild shelf wear. One inch linear blemish on rear board near joint. Red page edges. Marbled end papers. Book plate of Dr. Normal Shaftel on front paste down. Early ink owner’s signature on top of title page (slightly trimmed into). Tan ink stains to page iii and verso of title. Scattered damp stain and toning, but mostly bright. Tight throughout with rare early ink and later pencil marginalia. Margins a bit trimmed but still ample.
Ffep, two blanks, title – xxviii, 736, two blanks, rfep. With 8 plates (IV and V bound out of sequence).
René Théophile Hyacinthe Laennec (1781 - 1826) published the first edition (his only book, and in French) in 1819. See G-M 2673: “This book revolutionized the study of diseases of the chest. Auscultation in the instrumental sense dates from Laennec’s invention of the stethoscope (at first merely a roll of stiff paper) with a view to amplifying the sound of the heart’s action. The work illustrates Laennec's wooden stethoscope, which could be purchased from the publishers, and which was advertised for sale on the original printed wrappers of the first edition. Laennec's first wooden stethoscope was in two parts; later he invented a three-part stethoscope. Laennec was considered the greatest teacher of his time on tuberculosis. Indeed, it was in elaboration of his investigation of the disease that he invented the stethoscope. He established the fact that all phthisis is tuberculous, described pneumothorax and distinguished pneumonia from the various kinds of bronchitis and from pleuritis. “Laennec’s cirrhosis” – chronic interstitial hepatitis – is described on p. 368 of Vol. 1. The second edition, 1826, is even more important, since it gives not only the various physical signs elicited in the chest, but adds the pathological anatomy, diagnosis, and treatment of each disease encountered. Laennec died of tuberculosis at the early age of 45. English translation of the first edition by J. Forbes, London, 1821.”
Norman Shaftel, 1915-1998, was a physician and bibliophile. His cardiology library auctioned at Swann Galleries in 2001.
