TRAITE DE LA LITHOTOMIE OU DE L'EXTRACTION DE LA PIERRE HORS DE LA VESSIE 1686

[TOLET, FRANCOIS (1647-1724)]. Traite' de la lithotomie, ou, De l'extraction de la pierre, hors de la vessie : enrichy de figures necessaires pour representer la maniére de sonder, les instrumens propres, le malade dans l'operation : la ponction du perinée, & les differentes methodes de tirer la pierre : avec les appareils, les remedes preservatifs du calcul, & les medicamens pour les taillez. Suivant la copie à Paris; a La Haye, chez Barent Beek, Marchand Libraires dans la Wagestraet, M. DC. LXXXVI. [1686].

Reprint, leather-bound, hardcover, duodecimo (16.5cm x 10cm x 2cm), pp. 172, [6]; French text. Bound in contemporary full vellum, initial and terminal blanks present, engraved frontispiece, 18 engraved medical plates, 2 in-text illustrations of surgical instruments on p.93 and p.144, decorative initials, head- and tail-pieces, table to rear. Condition: VERY GOOD. Collated complete, binding tight and secure, light soiling to covers, interior largely very well-preserved with some marking to endpapers. Scarce thus.

Notes: A remarkable and important early medical treatise on the removal of kidney stones. In the 17th century (this work first appeared in 1682) as described and illustrated in this book, there were two methods of removing stones--by the use of an instrument inserted through the penis or by way of small incisions beneath the scrotum. Of particular interest are the full page engravings; one shows several sizes and shapes of stones, two show the array of surgical instruments available to the 17th century physician tasked with performing the procedure; the holding of the patient by an assistant; the exact places and sizes of the incisions. [Ref. Cp. Wellcome IV:283. - Cp. Krivatsy 11902].