Beschreibung:

TAGLIACOZZI, Gaspare (1545-1599). De Curtorum Chirurgia per insitionem . Venice: Gasparo Bindoni the younger, 1597.
TAGLIACOZZI, Gaspare (1545-1599). De Curtorum Chirurgia per insitionem . Venice: Gasparo Bindoni the younger, 1597. 2° (317 x 205mm). Title printed in red and black. Engraved architectural frontispiece with the arms of the dedicatee, Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, printer's large woodcut device on title, 2 woodcut illustrations on Ee5r, 21 full-page woodcuts (of 22, lacking leaf Bbb3) showing surgical methods and instruments of plastic surgery. (Frontispiece shaved at head and foot and lightly soiled, a few small marginal repairs.) Modern morocco by Roger Powell, an early spine label and conservation report on rear pastedown (some discolouration). Provenance : early press-marks on the front endpaper -- sold by a charitable trust. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST BOOK EXCLUSIVELY DEVOTED TO PLASTIC SURGERY. Although Celsus and other earlier writers had discussed aspects of plastic operations, 'Tagliaccozzi was the first to work toward establishing their scientific validity by publishing surgical procedures that had for generations been closely guarded secrets, and by improving these procedures in the light of the best medical knowledge of his day' (Norman). The series of fine woodcuts in book III depicts the instruments and progressive steps of the various reconstructive operations through the post-operative stage. This copy is the second issue, with the printed license on the title verso. Adams T-59; Garrison-Morton 5734; Gnudi-Webster pp. 183-216; Grolier Medicine 23; Mortimer, Harvard Italian 488; Norman 2048; Wellcome I, 6210.