Incunable of Syphilis
130. TORRELLA, Gaspare. Dialogus de dolore cum tractatu de ulceribus in pudendagra evenire solitis. [Colophon:] Impressus Rome: per Joannem Besicken & Martinum de Amsterdam, 31 October 1500. 4to, 60 leaves. Gothic letter, 36 lines, three woodcut initials. Title-page a little soiled, dampstain in lower inner corner throughout, otherwise in very good state. Later boards. Some early manuscript notes in the margins. £16,000 FIRST EDITION of this very early book on syphilis, and Torrella’s second book on the subject. Syphilis, as it later became known, first appeared in Europe in the mid-1490s. Torrella, as papal physician, was more or less obliged to address the subject, and he had to invent a name for it. He called it “pudendagra”. “The most striking feature of Torrella’s view of Morbus Gallicus was his optimistic opinion that it was both known and curable. He claimed that he had treated successfully seventeen cases in just the two months of September and October 1497... Clearly, one strategy of a man at the top of his profession, who had by now apparently fitted a new disease into the extant medical apparatus, was the bold one of announcing his mastery of it. Since it was seen as a new disease, there were no common expectations about its durability or curability. Torrella seems to have decided to fill that space with the help of the printing press...” (Elmer & Grell, editors, Health, disease and society in Europe 1500–1800, pp. 21–22). Gaspare Torrella (c.1452–c.1520) was physician to Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia). Both came from Valencia. He was also physician to his successor, Julius II (who suffered from syphilis), to his son Cesare Borgia, and librarian of the Vatican library. BMC IV, 142. Goff T391. Klebs 980.1. Stillwell, The awakening interest in science, 536. This was the only separate edition, and is rare; it was included by Luisinus in his compendium on syphilis of 1566–7. Torrella was the only person to publish two works on the subject before 1501.
131. TRAVERS, Benjamin. A Synopsis of the Diseases of the Eye, and their treatment: to which are prefixed, a short anatomical description and a sketch of the physiology of that organ. London: Printed for Longman,... 1820. [Bound with:] Notes to a Synopsis of the Diseases of the Eye. London: G. Woodfall, printer... 1821. 2 works in 1 volume, 8vo, pp. xix, (i), 425, and 6 hand-coloured engraved plates; 30 pages. The plates rather closely cut affecting the plate numbers, signatures or imprint, some soiling and small marks, upper corner of T4 missing with loss of page numbers, library stamp on the title-page of the Notes and the paper slightly browned. Nineteenth century half calf. £850 FIRST EDITIONS. G&M 5843 (the Synopsis): “The earliest systematic treatise in English on diseases of the eye. The book became the authority in Europe and America.” Travers was the first hospital surgeon in England to dedicate himself entirely to the study of the eye. This book was the result of his observations made at the London Infirmary for Diseases of the Eye (now known as Moorfields), where he succeeded Saunders as surgeon. The very rare Notes, not normally found with the main work, includes an original report by Baron Dupuytren communicated personally to Travers. The Notes was incorporated into the second edition. Becker catalogue 379. Albert, Norton & Hurtes 2307.
132. WARREN, John C. Surgical Observations on Tumours, with cases and observations. Boston: Crocker and Brewster. London: John Churchill,... 1839. 8vo, pp. xvi, (ii), 607, 16 hand-coloured lithographed plates. Without the final preliminary blank C2. Some spotting (mostly very mild). Contemporary half calf, extremities rubbed, but a very good copy. £450 FIRST ENGLISH EDITION (the original American sheets with a cancel title had been published in London the year before). See G&M 2611.1: “First North American book on tumours.” It was continued... 64