The First General Pharmacopoeia by an American, Commended for its Concision in a Letter from President Jefferson

VADE-MECUM MEDICUM. [bound between] PERCY, PIERRE-FRANÇOIS. MANUEL DU CHIRURGIEN-D'ARMÉE, OU INSTRUCTION DE CHIRURGIE-MILITAIRE. [and] [SCHOOL OF SALERNO]. L'ECOLE DE SALERNE OU PRECEPTES GENEREAUX POUR CONSERVER SA SANTÉ.

(MEDICINE - 18TH CENTURY AMERICAN WORKS ON). TAZEWELL, WILLIAM.

(Paris: A. J. Dugour et Durand; Nicolas-Toussaint Méquignon; Poilly, 1798; 1792; 1786). 168 x 100 mm. (6 1/2 x 4"). 2 p.l., iv, 210 pp.; xvi, 272 pp.; 46, [2] pp. Three separately published works bound as one. FIRST EDITIONS of Tazewell and Percy.

Contemporary patterned vellum boards backed with mottled sheep, flat spine, gilt in compartments with alternating urn and fleuron tools, red morocco label lettered in gilt, all edges sprinkled (with expert repairs to joints and ends of spine). In a custom-made box. Manuel du Chirurgien-d'Armée with a folding plate illustrating tools developed by the author for removing a bullet from a wound. Front pastedown with "Questions faites par le Juri Medical" dated "3 Septembre 1808," laying out five sets of questions from that examination; title page of Manuel with date of Percy's death added in ink. Vade-Mecum Medicum: Blake 446; Cowen, America's Pre-Pharmacopoeial Literature (1961), pp. 21-22; Thomas Jefferson letter to William Tazewell, 23 January 1803, Founders Online, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0331. Manuel du Chirurgien-d'Armée: Blake 343; Garrison-Morton 2158.1. Boards with a mild tendency to splay, corners and boards a bit worn, but the restored binding solid and not unappealing. Trivial imperfections internally, but the book excellent throughout, extremely clean and bright.

Bound with two other 18th century works of medicine, this is a landmark American medical work by a Virginian that was commended by Jefferson while in his first term as President of the United States. According to Cowen, the "Vade-Mecum Medicum" is "the first general (as distinguished from hospital) 'pharmacopoeia' compiled by an American." Virginia physician William Tazewell (ca. 1770 - 1840) studied medicine in Edinburgh, and he notes in his preface here that the classification of diseases that comprises the first part of this work is based on the 1769 nosology by the Scottish physician William Cullen. The materia medica and formulary that follow draw on Tazewell's own notes from his studies at the University of Edinburgh, as well as the London pharmacopoeia and Joseph Townsend's "The Physicians' Vade Mecum" (1794). When his "Vade-Mecum" was published, Tazewell was in Paris serving as secretary to American diplomat Elbridge Gerry, a post he held from 1797 to 1800. Upon returning to the United States, Tazewell set up practice in Williamsburg, Virginia, and sent copies of the present work to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The latter acknowledged the value of the gift, especially in terms of its concision, in a letter to our author dated 23 January 1803. He said, in part, that the book "has really brought the whole science of diseases & remedies within the shortest compass possible, and, not meddling with the details of the science himself, it presents exactly such a general view of every part of it, as he [i.e., one?] often wishes to take." Tazewell's work is bound here between an influential guide to treating gunshot wounds by the chief surgeon of Napoléon's Grande Armée and an 18th century French edition of the "Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum," a Medieval poem setting forth rules for health advised by the great medical school at Salerno. Baron Pierre-François Percy (1754-1825) pioneered a number of important innovations in battlefield medicine, including the "surgical quiver," a kit containing tourniquets and 11 instruments that a medic could wear over his shoulder. Garrison-Morton notes that "He was responsible, with Larrey, for the invention of special ambulances and squads of litter-bearers, including a 'super-ambulance' capable of carrying 8 surgeons, 8 attendants, and dressings for 1200." The present work focuses on treatment of gunshot wounds, and presents the tool Percy invented to remove bullets, the "Tribulcon" depicted in the folding plate here. Percy's tombstone in Père Lachaise cemetery declares him "the father of military surgeons." Originally written in Latin in the 12th or 13th century, the final work here sets forth hygienic and dietary practices for good health in a format that would be easy for the layperson to understand and remember. Its origins are attributed to the medical school of Salerno, the first and most influential early modern medical school. The text remained popular for centuries. Our volume may have been the property of L. M. Petit, a surgeon from Chateaudun, who is referenced in the "Questions du Juri Medical" attached to the front pastedown. (ST21018)

Price: $4,500.00