Rare Books — #1 – 50
1 Abū Bakr al-Hasan ibn al-Khasib, 9th cent.
Liber genethliacus, sive De nativitatibus, non solum ingenti rerum scitu dignarum copia, verum etiam iucundissimo illarum ordine conspicuus. Nuremberg: J. Petrejus, 1540.
74 leaves; 20 cm. (4to)
An early sixteenth century astrological work on the art of calculating nativities and predicting the health of newborns, first published under the title De nativitatibus (Venice: Alovisius de Sancta Lucia, 1 June 1492). According to the text of the first edition, this work was translated from the Arabic in 1218. Seven chapters treat the ocular affections which could be expected with particular planetary alignments at the time of birth.
Sarton I:603.
2 Académie Royale de Chirurgie (Paris).
Mémoires de l’Académie Royale de Chirurgie. Paris: Charles Osmont, 1743-74.
5 v. (viii, [2], [ix]-x1, 778, [2] p., 21 plates; [4], xcviii, [6], 613 p., 23 plates; [6], 139, [5], 680 p., 20 plates; [4], 123, [1], 699 p., 11 plates; [4], xvi, 928 p., 19 plates); 28 cm. (4to)
Established by royal edict of Louis XV, the Académie Royale de Chirurgie held its first meeting in December of 1731, and issued the first volume of its proceedings in 1743. The five volumes of the Mémoires contain twelve articles on the surgery of the eye, the most important of which is Jacques Daviel’s original description of his operation for the treatment of cataract by extraction of the lens. The articles on ophthalmic surgery are:
—Bordenhave, Toussaint, 1728-1782. “Examen des réflexions critiques de M. Molinelli, inserées dans les Mémoires de l’Institut de Bologne, contre le mémoire de M. Petit, sur la fistule lacrymale inseré parmi ceux de l’Académie Royale des Sciences de Paris, année 1734.” II:161-174.
—Idem. “Mémoire dans lequel on propose un nouveau procédé pour traiter le renversement des paupières.” V:97-109.
—Daviel, Jacques, 1693-1762. “Sur une nouvelle méthode de guérir la cataracte par l’extraction du cristalin.” II:337-352; followed by “Rémarques sur la mémoire de M. Daviel.” II:352-354.
—Hoin, Jean Jacques Louis, 1722-1772. “Sur une espèce de cataracte nouvellement observée.” II:425-430.
—La Faye, Georges de, 1699-1781. “Pour servir à perfectionner la nouvelle méthode de faire l’opération de la cataracte.” II:563-577.
—La Forest (de). “Nouvelle méthode de traiter les maladies du sac lacrymal, nommées communement, fistules lacrymales.” II:175-190.
—Le Dran, Henri François, 1685-1770. “Sur un oeil éraillé.” I:440-443.
—Louis, Antoine, 1723-1792. “Réflexions sur l’opération de la fistule lacrymale.” II:193-213.
—Idem. “Précis historique de la doctrine des auteurs sur l’opération qu’ils ont proposée pour remédier au renversement des paupières.” V:110-128.
—Idem. “Mémoire sur plusieurs maladies du globe de l’oeil; ou l’on examine particulièrement les cas qui exigent l’extirpation de cet organe, & la méthode d’y procéder.” V:161-224.
—Morand, Sauveur François, 1697-1773, & Verdier, César, 1685-1759. “Rapport des opérations de la cataracte par l’extraction du cristallin, faites devant les Commissaires de l’Académie, par M. Poyet . . . .” II:578-583.
Imprint varies throughout the five volumes: t. II, Delaguette, 1753; t. III, idem, 1757; t. IV., P. Alex. Le Prieur, 1768; and t. V, P. Fr. Didot, 1774.
3 Adams, George, 1750-1795.
An essay on vision, briefly explaining the fabric of the eye, and the nature of vision: intended for the service of those whose eyes are weak or impaired: enabling them to form an accurate idea of the true state of their sight, the means of preserving it, together with proper rules for ascertaining when spectacles are necessary, and how to choose them without injuring the sight. London: R. Hindmarsh, 1789.
vi, [2], 153, [1], 14 p., [1] plate; 22 cm. (8vo)
Adams, a famous London and court optician, earned a worldwide reputation as a maker of spectacles and microscope lenses. In this work he endeavored “to do away a general prejudice in favour of spectacles [and] to diffuse more generally a knowledge of the subject among the venders of this article, particularly those who live in the country” (Preface, p.[iii]-iv). The final section gives an account of squinting, methods of ascertaining its nature, and the best remedies for its cure. A priced catalogue of mathematical and scientific instruments made and sold by the author follows the text.
BOA I:2; Hirschberg §470.
4 Adams, Sir William, 1783-1827.
Practical observations on ectropium, or eversion of the eye-lids, with the description of a new operation for the cure of that disease; on the modes of forming an artificial pupil, and on cataract. London: J. Brettell for J. Callow, 1812.
xvi, 252, [2] p., 3 plates; 23 cm. (8vo)
Publisher’s advertisements (16 p.) bound-in.
William Adams, a pupil of John Cunningham Saunders and founder of Exeter’s West of England Eye Infirmary, was a rather pretentious though highly regarded ophthalmic surgeon and one of the central figures in the controversy which raged between 1806 and 1820 over the treatment of Egyptian ophthalmia [cf. Edmondston (122) and Vetch (389)]. In this book, his first published work, Adams described a method of treating eversion of the eyelids by the removal of an angular part of the lid. Adam’s new operation for forming an artificial pupil, however, was simply a revival of the procedures employed by Cheselden and Sharpe. Originally the operation of iridectomy was undertaken for the purely optical purpose of forming an artificial pupil rather than as the curative measure it was to become in the hands of Beer (37-40) and von Graefe. Adams assumed his wife’s family name and was known as Sir William Rawson after 1825.
AmEncOph I:92; BOA I:2; Hirschberg §630; Wellcome II:14.
4.1 Adams, Sir William, 1783-1827.
A treatise on artificial pupil, in which is described, a series of improved operations for its formation; with an account of the morbid states of the eye to which such operations are applicable. London: Baldwin, Cradock, & Joy, et al., 1819.
vii, [1], 134, [50], xi, [1] p., [1] plate: tables; 22 cm.
Provenance: Inscribed by the author to Viscount Castlereagh.
Partial contents: “The first annual report, detailing the cases of all the pensioners, who, during the last year, have been treated and discharged from the institution founded by government, for the cure of the blind pensioners afflicted with various diseases of the eye . . .” (p. [1-50] following the treatise).
This treaties contains “a description of all operations for the formation of artificial pupil which the author considered worthy of notice” (BOA II:1). The text is a significantly revised version of Adams’s Practical observations (4). Modifying Cheselden’s operation, Adams introduced a new method to form an artificial pupil by using a small iris scalpel of his own design. He describes this instrument on page 32 of the present treatise.
The decorative volume contains a hand-colored plate and is covered with a fine contemporary red morocco binding with gold- and blind-tooling; the edges of the text block are gilt all around.
AmEncOph I:93; BOA II:1; Dawson 75; Gorin, p. 74; NUC 482:618.
5 Aetius, of Amida, 502-575.
Libri sexdecim nunc primum latinitate donati, in quibus cuncta quae ad artem curandi pertinent sunt congesta . . . in tres divisum est tomos. Quorum primus, septem libros continet a Joanne Baptista Montano . . . latinitate donatos. Secundus autem, libros sex Jano Cornario . . . interprete. At tertius, libros tres habet ab eodem Joanne Baptista Montano felicissime latinos factos. Venice: L. Giunta, March, January, June, 1534.
[12], 303 [1], [8], 300, 303-304, [2], 157 (i.e. 155), [2], [48] p.; 32 cm. (fol.)
The first complete Latin edition of Aetius’s famous Tetrabiblion, published before the incomplete Greek editio princeps of the same year. Aetius, chamberlain and physician to the Emperor Justinian, “collected together works of other men which might have been forgotten but for him. Among them may be mentioned Rufus of Ephesus, Antyllus, Leonides, Soranus, Philumenus” (G-M 33). The seventh book, “De oculorum morbis,” contains the most exhaustive account of eye diseases in the literature of antiquity.
Durling Suppl. 2; Hirschberg §248.
6 Aguilon, François d’, 1566-1617.
Opticorum libri sex philosophis iuxtà ac mathematicis utiles. Antwerp: Officina Plantiniana, by the widow and sons of J. Moretus, 1613.
[48], 684, [44] p.: ill.; 36 cm. (fol.)
An elaborately illustrated and printed book whose six vignettes and frontispiece, engraved by Theodore Galle, are from drawings by Peter Paul Rubens. A landmark of baroque book illustration, this is one of only seven works known to have been illustrated by Rubens.
A classic in the science of optics, the Opticorum is a skillful synthesis of the works of Euclid, Alhazen (Ibn al-Haitham), Witelo, Bacon, Risner, and Kepler, and includes important and original observations on the properties of light, the nature of vision, the optic ray and horopter, and projections by mathematical theorems. Stereographic projections, known from the time of Hipparchus, were first named and fully discussed by Aguilon in this work. “The subject of binocular vision was successfully studied by Aguilon. . . . His theory is more correct than that of Dr. Whewell or Mr. Wheatstone. . . . Optical writers who lived after the time of Aguilon seem to have considered the subject of binocular vision as exhausted in this admirable work” (Sir David Brewster). Aguilon was rector of the Jesuit college in Antwerp.
BOA I:2; Hirschberg §313.
Alberti, Michael, 1682-1757, praeses.
See Arnoldi (26.1).
Alcoatin, 12th cent.
Congregatio sive Liber de oculis, quem compilavit Alcoatin, Christianus Toletanus anno dominicae incarnationis MCLIX. Publié d’aprés les manuscrits des bibliothèques de Metz et d’Erfurt, avec introduction sur l’histoire des oculistes arabes.
In Collectio ophthalmologica veterum auctorum (82), fasc. 2.
7 Algarotti, Francesco, conte, 1712-1764.
Il Newtonianismo per le dame ovvero dialoghi sopra la luce e i colori. Naples: s.n., 1737.
xi, [1], 300, [4] p.: engr. front.; 23 cm. (4to)
The first edition of the first successful popularization of Newtonian optics. Algarotti’s considerable literary ability and genuine interest in the sciences combined to produce this elegant presentation of Newtonian ideas, arranged in the form of six imaginary dialogues with the Marchesa di E. . . . Its influence is attested by the publication of ten Italian, five English, four French, three Dutch, and individual German and Swedish editions between 1738 and 1832.
The young Venetian’s immediate acceptance into the best circles of the capitals of Europe assured him the acquaintance of the most brilliant men of the day and the most advanced ideas. Algarotti was already planning a popularization of Newton in a series of dialogues similar to Fontenelle’s Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes, when he was invited to Cirey by Voltaire, who was himself planning a like work (394). He returned to Venice in 1736 after nearly two years in Paris and London, where the general approbation of his dialogues induced him to ready the manuscript for publication.
Wallis 194; Wellcome II:30.
8 Alhazen (Ibn al-Haitham), 965-1039.
Opticae thesaurus . . . libri septem, nunc primùm editi. Ejusdem Liber de crepusculis & nubium ascensionibus. Item Vitellonis Thuringopoloni libri X. Omnes instaurati . . . adjectis etiam in Alhazenum commentariis, à Federico Risnero. Basel: E. Episcopius & heirs of N. Episcopius for Officina Episcopiana, 1572.
[6], 288, [8], 474, [2] p.: ill.; 34 cm. (fol.)
First printed edition of a fundamental work on optics, it was translated from the Arabic in the twelfth century and became the foundation of Western optical science through Witelo, Roger Bacon, Peckham and Kepler. The Book of optics is followed by the Treatise on twilight, in which height of the atmospheric moisture responsible for the refraction of the sun’s rays is calculated. This work, generally ascribed to Alhazen, is probably the work of Abū cAbd Allāh Muhammad ibn Mucādh al-Jayyani who lived in the latter part of the eleventh century. Cf. A. I. Sabra. “The authorship of the Liber de crepusculis,” Isis, 58:77-85 (1967).
The Perspective of Witelo (422.1), a commentary on Alhazen’s Optics first published in 1535, is included in this work edited by Friedrich Risner. The reprint edition of this work (New York: Johnson Reprint Corp., 1972) contains a full introduction by David Lindberg.
BOA I:3; Wellcome I:3044 (Haitham, Ibn al).
cAlī ibn cĪsā, al-Kahhal, 10th cent.
Epistola Jhesu filii Haly de cognitione infirmitatum oculorum sive memoriale oculariorum quod compilavit Ali ben Issa. Avec les deux textes juxtaposés de la traduction arabo-latine et de la traduction hébra co-latine publiés d’après les manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale et les incunables.
In Collectio ophthalmologica veterum auctorum (82), fasc. 3.
9 cAlī ibn cĪsā, al-Kahhal, 10th cent.
Memorandum book of a tenth-century oculist for the use of modern ophthalmologists. A translation of the Tadhkirat of Ali ibn Isa of Baghdad (cir. 940-1010 A.D.), the most complete, practical and original of all the early textbooks on the eye and its diseases. 1st ed. in English by Casey A. Wood. Chicago: Lakeside Press for Northwestern University, 1936.
xxxix, [1], 232 p., [16] plates; 27 cm.
“The Tadhkirat al-Kahhalin was one of the oldest and best of the medieval Arabic works on ophthalmology. It carefully described 130 diseases of the eye and became the standard work on the subject in the Middle East” (G-M 5815).
Hirschberg §268.
10 Allbutt, Sir Thomas Clifford, 1836-1925.
On the use of the ophthalmoscope in diseases of the nervous system and of the kidneys; also in certain other general disorders. London and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1871.
xii, [4], 405 p., [2] plates; 23 cm.
“The number of physicians who are working with the ophthalmoscope in England may, I believe, be counted upon the fingers of one hand” (Pref., p. 9). Allbutt was one of the first to employ the ophthalmoscope in Britain, and to extend its use beyond the diagnosis of ocular diseases. In this work Allbutt strove to explain to his contemporaries the numerous and important indications of intracranial disease provided by ophthalmoscopic examination. The author never entered into ophthalmic practice per se, but used his ophthalmological knowledge as an aid to his general clinical practice.
BOA I:4; Chance, p. 169-70; Hirsch I:92.
Allbutt, Sir Thomas Clifford, 1836-1925.
See Walton (399.1).
11 Alphonse, (Doctor), de Grand Boulogne.
Mémoire sur deux instruments nouveaux destinés à l’extraction et à l’abaissement de la cataracte. Marseilles: M. Olive, 1843.
35 p., [l] plate; 21 cm.
Modifications of the keratotome and the couching needle and their application in the extraction and depression operations for cataract are described.
12 Ammon, Friedrich August von, 1799-1861.
Ophthalmo paracenteseos historia. Specimen medico-historicum quo commentatur in varias huius operationis ad cataractam sanandam methodos hucusque institutas, et in instrumenta hunc in usum inventa. Göttingen: H. Dieterich, 1821.
xii, 88 p., [l] plate; 21 cm.
The first booktrade edition of Ammon’s doctoral thesis, an historical survey of cataract operations, which he defended at the University of Göttingen on August 25, 1821. Hirsch (I:118) described this work as “an extremely learned compilation of all the operations pertaining to the subject, with descriptions and illustrations of all the instruments used.”
Hirschberg §516-517; Waller 12514.
13 Ammon, Friedrich August von, 1799-1861.
De genesi et usu maculae luteae in retina oculi humani obviae. Quaestio anatomico-physiologica. Weimar: Landes-Industrie-Comtoir, 1830.
[6], 24 p., [l] plate; 26 cm.
An anatomical and physiological study of the macula lutea or yellow spot of Soemmerring, which was presented as the author’s inaugural dissertation as professor of general pathology, materia medica, and clinical medicine and surgery in the Medico-Chirurgical Academy at Dresden.
Hirschberg §516-517.
14 Ammon, Friedrich August von, 1799-1861.
De iritide. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner (Dresden) for Weidmann, 1838.
vi, 48 p., [2] plates; 32 cm.
One of the most significant works of the celebrated ophthalmologist on the subject of iritis, this treatise, written in 1835, was first presented in Paris where it was awarded a medal by the Société Medico-Pratique. Ammon’s work on iritis was so thorough and carefully founded on pathological and anatomical observations that it made other works on the subject appear elementary.
Hirschberg §516-517.
14.1 Ammon, Friedrich August von, 1799-1861.
Klinische Darstellungen der Krankheiten und Bildungsfehler des menschlichen Auges, der Augenlider und der Thränenwerkzeuge nach eigenen Beobachtungen und Untersuchungen. Berlin: G. Reimer, 1838-1847.
4 pts. in 1 v. (viii, [2], 69, [1] p., 23 plates; viii, 31 p., 12 plates; viii, 90 p., 20 plates; [2], xxxvi p.); 41 cm.
A systematic summary and pictorial exposition of eye diseases including outward appearance, pathological anatomy and histopathology. This magnificent atlas containing 965 colored illustrations etched on 55 folio plates was published in four parts: parts 1 and 2 in 1838, part 3 in 1841, and part 4 in 1847. Part 2 specifically deals with the diseases of the eyelids, the lacrimal apparatus and the orbit. Part 3 describes congenital diseases of the visual system, and part 4 contains a preface to the entire work and a cumulative index. The work is described as “probably the best summary of the knowledge of diseases of the eye prior to the introduction of the ophthalmoscope” (G-M 5852). A French translation by V. F. Szokalski was published in Berlin and Paris in 1847.
BOA I:5; G-M 5852; Hirsch I:119-120; Hirschberg §517.
15 Ammon, Friedrich August von, 1799-1861.
Die plastische Chirurgie nach ihren bisherigen Leistungen kritisch dargestellt. Berlin: F. Nies (Leipzig) for G. Reimer, 1842.
xxvi, 310 p.; 23 cm.
This study was awarded the medal of the medical society of Ghent in 1840 and was subsequently translated into French and Italian. Blepharoplasty and canthoplasty are treated fully in this work, one of the most comprehensive on plastic surgery up to that time.
Hirschberg §516-517; Waller 340; Wellcome II:40.
Andersen, S. Ry, 1915- , ed.
See Soemmerring, D. W. (347).
15.1 Andreae, August Wilhelm, 1794-1867.
Zur ältesten Geschichte der Augenheilkunde. Programm der K. Medicinische-Chirurgischen Lehr-Anstalt zu Magdeburg. Magdeburg: Königl. Medicinische-Chirurgische Lehr-Anstalt, 1841.
113, [1] p.; 22 cm.
Provenance: Signed by the author for Dr. I. N. Schan(?).
August Andreae was accepted by the University of Berlin at the age of 17. He graduated in just three years, and then studied under Georg Joseph Beer and Eduard Jaeger in Vienna. He started his medical practice in Magdeburg in 1817, and lectured at the Royal Medical and Surgical College of Magdeburg in pathology, therapy and—with particular success—in ophthalmology. He was a prolific medical author, and earned a distinguished place among medical historians with his two essays on ancient medicine. This volume contains Andreae’s earlier essay about Egyptian, Indian, Hebrew and ancient Greek ophthalmiatrics, together with a speech delivered at the college in October, 1840. This essay was republished with Andreae’s later historical writing, Die Augenheilkunde des Hippokrates, in 1843.
Engelmann, p. 17; Hirsch I:135.
16 Anel, Dominique, 1679-1730.
Lettres diverses, ou les critiques de la critique del signor Francesco Signorotti en faveur de la nouvelle methode de guerir la fistule lacrimale nouvellement inventée. Turin: J. F. Mairesse & J. Radix, 1713.
158, [2] p.; 19 cm. (4to)
Bound with Anel (17, 18, 341).
Hirschberg §360-361.
17 Anel, Dominique, 1679-1730.
Nouvelle methode de guerir les fistules lacrimales, ou recüeil de differentes pieces pour & contre, & en faveur de la même methode nouvellement inventée par Dominique Anel. Turin: P. J. Zappatte, 1713.
[16], 34 p.; 19 cm. (4 to)
Bound with Anel (16, 18, 341).
“Lachrymal duct catheterized for the first time” (G-M 5826). A collection of works on Anel’s new method of treatment which includes the first edition of his Observation singuliere sur la fistule lacrimale, together with pieces which illustrate both contemporary support and opposition to his method. Anel “will always be remembered for his transformation of the classical treatment of lacrimal disease by such crude methods as the use of chemical caustics, the actual cautery and even the use of molten lead into the more civilized technique of probing and syringing” (Duke-Elder 13:675).
Bound with this collection of separate works is Anel’s Suite de la nouvelle methode de guerir les fistules lacrimales (1714) which also includes letters in support of his method from such influential men as Woolhouse, Lancisi, Mery and Fontenelle.
Hirschberg §360-361; Waller 426.
18 Anel, Dominique, 1679-1730.
Suite de la nouvelle methode de guerir les fistules lacrimales, ou discours apologetique, dans lequel on a inseré differentes pieces en faveur de la même methode inventée l’an 1713. Turin: J. F. Mairesse & J. Radix, 1714.
[24], 316, [4] p.; 19 cm. (4to)
Bound with Anel (16, 17, 341).
Hirschberg §360-361.
19 Ango, Pierre, 1640-1694.
L’optique divisée en trois livres ou l’on démontre d’une maniere aisée tout ce qui regarde 1º la propagation & les proprietez de la lumiere. 2º La vision. 3º La figure & la disposition des verres qui servent à la perfefectionner [sic]. Paris: E. Michallet, 1682.
[8], 120, 125-367, [1] p., [1] plate: ill.; 15 cm. (12mo)
Ango’s treatise is of significance to the history of optics because it established the outline of a wave theory of light nearly eight years in advance of Huygen’s Traité de la lumière (198). Both Ango and Huygens acknowledged making use of an unpublished manuscript by the Jesuit scientist Ignace Gaston Pardies (1636-1673) which may have suggested a wave theory based on optical experiments with reflected and refracted rays.
BOA I:6.
Anonymi tractatus de egritudinibus oculorum.
See Tractatus.
Antyllus, 3rd/4th cent.
See Aetius, of Amida (5).
Apian, Peter, 1495-1552, ed.
See Witelo (422.1).
Arago, Dominique François Jean, 1786-1853.
See Young (423.2).
20 Arlt, Ferdinand, Ritter von, 1812-1887.
Die Krankheiten des Auges für praktische Ärzte . . . . Dritter unveränderter Abdruck. Prague: F. A. Credner & Kleinbub, 1855-56.
3 v. (xvi, 288 p., [1] plate; [4], 354 p.; [4], 441, [3] p.): ill.; 23 cm.
“Epoch-making” has been the term used to describe the first appearance of this title in 1851. It is one of the most important works of the greatest figure in the history of the Viennese school of ophthalmology in the nineteenth century. The first volume describes the diseases of the conjunctiva and cornea; the second the diseases of the sclera, iris, choroid and lens; and the third the diseases of the vitreous body, retina, eye muscles, palpebrae, lacrimal apparatus and orbit. The first edition was published between 1851 and 1856. A third edition of the first and second volumes was already called for by 1855. The first edition of the third volume was published in 1856, the same year that Arlt arrived at the University of Vienna.
Hirschberg §1231.
21 Arlt, Ferdinand, Ritter von, 1812-1887.
Über die Verletzungen des Auges mit besonderer Rücksicht auf deren Gerichtsärztliche Würdigung. Vienna: W. Braumüller, 1875.
[2], 128 p.; 23 cm.
“An important work dealing with the medico-legal aspects of eye injuries. English translation by C. S. Turnbull, 1878” (G-M 5912).
G-M 5912; Hirsch I:198; Hirschberg §1233; Waller 467.
22 Arlt, Ferdinand, Ritter von, 1812-1887.
Klinische Darstellung der Krankheiten des Auges zunächst der Binde-, Horn- und Lederhaut dann der Iris und des Ciliarkörpers. Vienna: W. Braumüller, 1881.
vii, [l], 316 p., [l] plate; 23 cm.
Published thirty years after the first appearance of his textbook, Arlt’s Klinische Darstellung limits itself to a discussion of the diseases of the conjunctiva, cornea, sclera, iris and ciliary body. Published when Arlt was already sixty-nine years old, he wrote in the foreword, “Meine Gesundheit und die Beurtheilung des Gebotenen seitens der Fachgenossen werden für die Fortsetzung dieses Unternehmens entscheidend sein.”
Hirsch I:198; Hirschberg §1233.
23 Arlt, Ferdinand, Ritter von, 1812-1887.
Zur Lehre vom Glaucom. Vienna: W. Braumüller, 1884.
[4], 142 p., VI plates: ill.; 24 cm.
Hirsch I:l99; Hirschberg §1233.
24 Arlt, Ferdinand, Ritter von, 1812-1887.
Clinical studies on diseases of the eye including those of the conjunctiva, cornea, sclerotic, iris and ciliary body. . . . Translated by Lyman Ware. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son, & Co., 1885.
viii, [9]-325 p., [l] plate; 24 cm.
The authorized translation by Lyman Ware (1841-1916) of Arlt’s Klinische Darstellung der Krankheiten der Binde-, Horn- und Lederhaut, dann der Iris und des Ciliarkörpers (22). An Edinburgh edition of the Ware translation was published the same year.
Arnaldus de Villanova, d. 1313?
Libellus regiminis de confortatione visus. Editus circa annum 1308. Publié pour la première fois d’après le manuscrit de la Bibliothèque de Metz.
In Collectio ophthalmologica veterum auctorum (82), fasc. 1.
25 Arnemann, Justus, 1763-1806?
Uebersicht der berühmtesten und gebräuch-lichsten chirurgischen Instrumente älterer und neuerer Zeiten. Göttingen: Vandenhoek-Ruprechtische Verlage, 1796.
236, [2] p.; 17 cm (8vo)
“Ouvrage utile et savant, qui offre une histoire assez complète des instrumens dont l’arsenal chirurgical s’est composé aux differentes époques de l’art” (BiogMed I:365). Arnemann lists hundreds of surgical instruments and their inventors, as well as providing references to the publications where they are described and illustrated. Ophthalmological instruments are described in “Von den Augeninstrumenten” (p. 42-78).
BioMed I:365; Blake, p. 20; Hirsch I:207; Waller 481; Wellcome II:59.
26 Arnold, Friedrich, 1803-1890.
Anatomische und physiologische Unter-suchungen über das Auge des Menschen. Heidelberg & Leipzig: K. Groos, 1832.
vii, [1], 168 p., 3 plates; 28 cm.
Publisher’s advertisements (4 p.) bound in.
Arnold, a pupil of Tiedemann, was professor of anatomy successively at Zurich, Freiburg, Tübingen, and Heidelberg and was among the pioneers in the scientific study of the anatomy of the eye. Among other observations, Arnold noted the lymphatic channels of the cornea and the location of nerves on the iris. The engraved plates illustrate microscopical enlargements of different parts of the eye.
Hirschberg §1004; Waller 483.
Arnold, Julius, 1835-1915.
See Wecker (408.1).
26.1 Arnoldi, Johann Friedrich, respondent.
Dissertatio inauguralis medica, de visus obscuratione a partu, quam . . . praeside Dn. D. Michaele Alberti pro gradu doctoris subjiciet respondens Johannes Fridericus Arnoldi, Biesenroda-Mansfeldensis. Halle: J. Ch. Hendel, 1732.
28 p.; 21 cm. (4vo)
A doctoral dissertation by Johann Friedrich Arnoldi about vitiation of sight at birth. Most bibliographies credit the work to Michael Alberti, who was the praeses (faculty moderator) of this thesis submitted at the University of Halle in August, 1732. As a follower and successor of Georg Ernst Stahl, Alberti was professor of theoretical medicine, physiology, dietetics, pharmacology, and botany in Halle. His tenure on the faculty lasted for forty-two years, and over three hundred dissertations and disputations are attributed to him (Haeser I:671).
Beer II:22; Haller Med IV:398; Hirschberg §428; Wellcome II:23, 59.
26.2 Aubert, Hermann Rudolf, 1826-1892.
Physiologie der Netzhaut. Breslau: E. Morgenstern, 1865.
[2], xii, 394 p.: ill.; 24 cm.
Provenance: Leland Stanford Junior University Library (bookplate).
Hermann Aubert was born in Frankfurt on the Oder, studied in Berlin, and received his doctorate in 1850. He taught medicine at the University of Breslau, and later was professor of physiology and rector at the University of Rostock. His richly illustrated Physiology of the retina describes physiological elements of vision, including the senses of light, color, and space, as well as binocular and stereoscopic vision.
BM 8:215; Hirsch I:238; NUC 25:381; Poggendorff III:49.
27 Bacon, Roger, 1214?-1294.
Perspectiva. In qua, quae ab aliis fuse traduntur, succincte, nervose & ita pertractantur, ut omnium intellectui facile pateant. Nunc primum in lucem edita opera & studio Johannis Combachii. Frankfurt am Main: W. Richter for A. Humm, 1614.
[8], 189 (i.e. 207) p., [4] plates: ill.; 19 cm. (4to)
Bound with Bacon (28).
This is the first edition of Part V of Bacon’s Opus majus (written 1266-1267) which did not appear in its entirety until 1733. Bacon’s contribution to ophthalmology was chiefly in the field of optics and his Treatise of mirrors indicates that he understood well the properties of lenses and spherical mirrors. It has been generally held [see Smith’s Compleat system of optics (345); remarks 81-88 and 111-121] that Bacon was the first to write about the practical utility of lenses and the relevant and frequently quoted passages (especially p. 159-160) are quite explicit about his use of a plano-convex glass to magnify writing. More recently G. Ten Doesschate [“Some Historical Notes on Spectacles and on Beryllus,” British Journal of Ophthalmology 30:660-664 (1946)] has argued that credit and perhaps even priority should be accorded to Robert Grosseteste and John Peckham for their work with lenses earlier in the thirteenth century.
BOA I:10; Hirschberg §300.
28 Bacon, Roger, 1214?-1294.
Specula mathematica: in qua, de specierum multiplicatione, earundemque in inferioribus virtute agitur. Liber omnium scientiarum studiosis apprime utilis, editus opera & studio Johannis Combachii. Frankfurt am Main: W. Richter for A. Humm, 1614.
[8], 83 p.: ill.; 19 cm. (4to)
Bound with Bacon (27).
Part IV of the author’s Opus majus which was written at the request of Pope Clement IV. Bacon believed deeply in the practical utility of mathematics in almost every field of study.
29 Bader, Charles, 1825-1899.
Plates illustrating the natural and morbid changes of the human eye. London: N. Trübner & Co., 1868.
32 p., X plates; 23 cm.
This small atlas was originally intended to accompany Bader’s The natural and morbid changes of the human eye, and their treatment (London, 1868). The plates were published somewhat later than the book because of difficulties the author encountered with lithographers. Lithographed by F. Schlotterbach after the original watercolors of R. Schweizer, the plates were published by the noted lithographic firm of Day & Son. They were considered of such quality that the atlas was often sought independent of the text.
Bader was a German ophthalmologist who settled in London after the political disturbances of 1848. Hirschberg credits him with having made the ophthalmoscope known in England. He was an original, even brilliant surgeon, who somehow escaped the serious attention of his British colleagues.
BOA I:10; Hirschberg §668.
Bager, Philipp Thomas, respondent.
“De synechia, sive praeternaturali adhaesione corneae cum iride.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 1:110-143.
30 Bailey, Walter, 1529-1593.
A briefe treatise touching the preseruation of the eie-sight, consisting partly in good order of diet, and partly in vse of medicines. London: R. Waldegrave, 1586.
[6], 23 p.; 14 cm. (8vo)
This original edition of Bailey’s first and most important book is also the first separate work in the English language devoted to ophthalmology. The author’s observations on the preservation of sight are complemented by the opinions of a variety of Arabic and medieval authorities, especially those of Rhazes, Avicenna and Arnaldus de Villanova.
According to D’Arcy Power [“Dr. Walter Bayley and his works,” Med.-Chir. Trans. 90: 415-454 (1907)], each of Bailey’s works were first printed for private circulation, and then reprinted for general distribution. The two issues of this title are supposed to differ in the signing of the first gathering and in the presence of a printer’s ornament on the last page of the preface. The first page of the preface in our copy is signed Aiii as in Power’s second printing, but is lacking the ornament which is supposed to appear in the re-issue.
A briefe treatise was often republished in the 17th century: first at Oxford in 1602, again at Oxford in 1616 (30.1) under the title Two treatises concerning the preservation of eie-sight (with a compendium on the diseases of the eye from the works of Fernel and Riolan); without acknowledgement in Banister’s 1622 Treatise (32); twice more at London in 1626 and 1633; and finally at Oxford again in 1654 and 1673.
Durling 506; Hirsch I:302; James, p. 48; STC 1193.
30.1 Bailey, Walter, 1529-1592.
Two treatises concerning the preseruation of eie-sight. The first written by Doctor Baily sometimes of Oxford, the other collected out of those two famous phisicions Fernelivs and Riolanvs. Oxford: Joseph Barnes for John Barnes, 1616.
[8], 64 p. (first and last leaves blank); 15 cm. (8vo)
This edition of Bailey’s A briefe treatise (30) with the exception of its title page, is thought to have been printed in London by G. Eld (STC [2nd ed.] 1196) rather than in Oxford by Joseph Barnes, since its woodcut initials and head-piece were quite unknown in Oxford at the time (Madan I:105). “The preface is no doubt by John Barnes and alludes to the worth and undeserved obscurity of Bailey’s work” (Ibid.). The second work, A treatise of the pricipall diseases of the eyes, is here printed in English for the first time, and “is apparently extracted in part from the Ars bene medendi of Jean Riolan, the elder. The compiler is unknown, although A. à Wood, in his Athenae oxonienses, v. 1 (1813), p. 586, states that both [treatises] now go under the name of Bailey” (NUC 30:653).
BM 10:37; BOA II:10 (1602 ed.); James, p. 49; Krivatsy 978; Madan I:105; NUC 30:653; STC (2nd ed.) 1196; Wellcome I:629; Wood I:586.
31 Banières, Jean, b. 1700.
Examen et réfutation des Elémens de la philosophie de Neuton de M. Voltaire, avec une dissertation sur la réflexion & la réfraction de la lumière. Paris: Lambert, Durand, 1739.
[4], xcviii, [10], 308, [4] p., 5 plates; 20 cm. (8vo)
A critical examination and refutation of Voltaire’s Elémens de la philosophie de Neuton (394), published the year following the first appearance of Voltaire’s immensely popular book. The author divides his work into as many chapters as appear in Voltaire’s, giving them identical titles, as he sets about refuting Voltaire’s Newtonian concepts of light, reflection, refraction, etc. Banières was a confirmed Cartesian, and took heated exception to Voltaire’s dismemberment of his mentor’s scientific ideas.
Wallis 44.
32 Banister, Richard, 1570?-1626.
A treatise of one hundred and thirteene diseases of the eyes, and eye-liddes. The second time published, with some profitable additions and certaine principles and experiments. London: F. Kyngston for T. Man, 1622.
[240] leaves; 15 cm. (12mo)
“Although much of this is a translation of Guillemeau, the first 112 pages are Banister’s own work, Banister’s Breviary. He was an itinerant but honest oculist; he noted the hardness of the eye ball in glaucoma” (G-M 5820).
The book has been thoroughly analyzed by Arnold Sorsby in an article in the British Journal of Ophthalmology 16:345-355 (1932). Sorsby believed that Banister has been unjustly accused of plagiarism and as a consequence his Breviary has been ignored by historians of the eye. See also Arnold Sorsby’s “Richard Banister and the beginnings of English ophthalmology” in Science, medicine and history, edited by E. Ashworth Underwood, (London, 1953), 2:42-55.
G-M 5820; Hirschberg §352; STC 1362; Wellcome I:2998.
Bartholin, Caspar, 1585-1629.
See Bartholin, Thomas (33).
33 Bartholin, Thomas, 1616-1680.
Anatomia, ex Caspari Bartholini parentis Institutionibus, omniumque recentiorum & propriis observationibus tertiùm ad sanguinis circulationem reformata. Leyden: F. Hack, 1651.
[16], 576, [14] p., [7] plates: ill.; 20 cm. (8vo)
Third edition of Bartholin’s Anatomia, a much-used seventeenth century anatomical textbook. The author, professor of anatomy at Copenhagen, was particularly interested in pathological anatomy and the discovery of the lymphatics. The book is essentially a revision of his father’s Institutiones anatomicae (Wittenberg, 1611) with illustrations after Vesalius, Ruysch, Casserius and others. A chapter (p. 341-352) and two plates are devoted to the eye.
Hirschberg §369; Wellcome II:107.
Bartholin, Thomas, 1616-1680.
“De cerebri substantia pingui” and “De oculorum suffusione.”
In Borri, G. F. Epistolae duae (55).
34 Bartisch, Georg, 1535-1607?
ΟΦθαλμοδουλεια. Das ist, Augendienst. Newer und wolgegründter Bericht von Ursachen und Erkentnüs aller Gebrechen, Schäden und Mängel der Augen und des Gesichtes. . . . Dresden: M. Stöckel, 1583.
[28], 274, [8] leaves: ill.; 31 cm. (fol.)
“Bartisch, the founder of modern ophthalmology, was a skilful operator and the first to practise the extirpation of the bulbus in cancer of the eye. The illustrations in his book form a comprehensive picture-book of Renaissance eye-surgery; some of the woodcuts show the parts of the eye lying successively one under the other, by means of pictures superimposed on each other like the pages of a book” (G-M 5817).
The Augendienst is the first modern work on eye surgery and one of the earliest surgical works printed in the vernacular. The ninety-one remarkable woodcuts which illustrate this book were probably executed by Hans Hewamaul after Bartisch’s own drawings.
BOA I:14; G-M 5817; Hirschberg §320; Waller 756; Wellcome I:697.
35 Bartisch, Georg, 1535-1607?
ΟΦθαλμοδουλεια. Das ist, Augendienst. Newer und wolgegründter Bericht von Ursachen und Erkentnüs aller Gebrechen, Schäden und Mängel der Augen und des Gesichtes. . . . New York: Editions Medicina Rara, 1977? (Dresden: M. Stöckel 1583).
[28], 274, [8] leaves: ill.; 31 cm.
“ . . . printed for the members of the Editions Medicina Rara at the presses of The Scolar Press. . . . The plates for this printing were made from a copy of the original 1583 edition, belonging to the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, West Germany. Five hundred copies have been bound in full leather and are numbered in Roman numerals I-D. . . . This copy is number LII” (colophon).
Bartisch, Georg, 1535-1607?
See Print 15.
35.1 Bate, Robert Brettell, fl. 1824-1837.
To all who value their sight. A few practical suggestions and illustrations, intended briefly to awaken the attention of every individual to the condition of his sight; and enable him to promote the improvement and preservation of that invaluable faculty. London: R. Taylor for the author, 1825.
20 p.; 22 cm.
A short essay promoting the use of spectacles, which according to the author are “not capable of restoring, but will almost entirely preserve” good eyesight (p. 6). The work includes medical explanations of near and far-sightedness, and describes the disadvantages of using magnifying glasses and monocles. It emphasizes the proper use of spectacles and the importance of “equality and uniformity of light” for reading (p. 18-19). The title page indicates that the pamphlet was “sold by . . . all opticians and booksellers” for a sixpence in London, but however popular, it became an extremely rare item due to its ephemeral nature. A fourth edition is known to have been published in 1830 (OCLC).
BM 12:652.
35.2 Baudet-Dulary, Alexandre François, 1790-1878.
Thése sur l’oeil et la vision. Paris: Didot, Jr., 1814.
[2], 19, [1] p.; 25 cm.
Bound with Fournier (140.1).
Baudet-Dulary was a follower of F. M. C. Fourier (1772-1837), social critic and utopian socialist (EncPhil III:215). Building on Fourier’s theory that humanity should be organized into “phalanxes,” Baudet-Dulary established a socialistic colony on his own estate in the Paris area. His better known writings are devoted to fields such as sociology, philosophy, hygiene, and physiognomy. This work, his doctoral dissertation about the anatomy of the eye and about vision, is his only known ophthalmological writing.
Hirsch I:381.
Baumgarten, Friedrich Moritz Oswald, 1813-1849.
See Ammon (15).
Bayley, Walter, 1529-1593.
See Bailey (30, 30.1).
Becker, Johann Hermann, 1700-1759, respondens.
See Becker, Peter (36.1).
36 Becker, Otto Heinrich Enoch, 1828-1890.
Atlas der pathologischen Topographie des Auges . . . Gezeichnet von Carl und Julius Heitzmann, Robert Sattler und Friedrich Veith. Lithographirt von Julius Heitzmann. I [-III] Lieferung. Vienna: W. Braumüller, 1874-78.
3 pts., XXX plates; 36 cm.
A colleague of Eduard Jaeger and Arlt in Vienna in the early 1860s, and Knapp’s successor at Heidelberg after his departure for New York in 1868, Becker made several important contributions to ophthalmic literature, including the present atlas. This set, which once belonged to the noted Philadelphia ophthalmologist Charles A. Oliver, is lacking the first Lieferung (1874).
Hirschberg §1188, 1189, 1190.
36.1 Becker, Peter, 1672-1753, praeses.
Novam hypothesin, de duplici visionis et organo et modo dioptrico altero, altero catoptrico, quorum hoc insectis, illud vero animantibus reliquis concessisse natura videtur . . . D. 12 Sept. anno MDCCXX . . . submittunt praeses M. Petrus Becker . . . & respondens Johannes Hermannus Becker. . . . Rostock: N. Schwiegerov, 1720.
[24] p.; 20 cm. (4to)
An academic disputation purporting to offer a new hypothesis about mechanisms of refraction and reflection in the eyes of insects and other animals, as well as humans. Johann Hermann Becker wrote this work under the direction of his uncle, Peter Becker, a professor of mathematics in Rostock and author of a number of works on mathematics, astronomy, and physics. Johann Becker later became a professor of theology at the University of Greifswald, but nevertheless continued to publish on optics and astronomy.
BM 13:836; NUC 42:422; Poggendorff I:126.
36.2 Beer, August, 1825-1863.
Einleitung in die höhere Optik. Braunschweig: F. Vieweg and Son, 1853.
xiii, [3], 430 p., [2] plates: 262 ill.; 22 cm.
August Beer, a lecturer at the University of Bonn, was author of works in a variety of fields related to the study of physics and mathematics including photometry, electrostatics, magnetism, elasticity, and gravity. This work is “an introduction to higher optics, including a detailed description of the properties of light, the oscillation theory of light, the propagation, polarization and transference of light” (BOA I:18). A French translation by M. C. Forthomme, and a second German edition revised by Victor von Lang were published in 1858 and 1882.
BM 13:1096; BOA I:19; NUC 43:141.
37 Beer, Georg Joseph, 1763-1821.
Praktische Beobachtungen über den grauen Staar und die Krankheiten der Hornhaut. Vienna: C. F. Wappler, 1791.
275, [1] p., 3 plates; 20 cm. (8vo)
The first work by this “prolific and prominent author, one of the most brilliant ophthalmologists, who must be reckoned amongst the most important contributors to the promotion of modern ophthalmology” (Hirsch I:422). In addition to providing what Hirschberg describes as an extraordinarily accurate description of gray or senile cataract and its operations, the author discusses corneal affections including the ocular complications of measles, staphyloma, and pterygium. Of particular interest are the first two plates comprising fifteen illustrations hand-colored by the author.
Hirschberg §469; Wellcome II:130.
38 Beer, Georg Joseph, 1763-1821.
Moyens infaillibles de conserver sa vue en bon état jusqu’a une extrême vieillesse et de la rétablir et la fortifier lorsqu’elle s’est affaiblie; avec la manière de s’aider soi même, dans des cas accidentels qui n’exigent pas la présence des gens de l’art, et celle de traiter les yeux pendant et après la petite-vérole; traduit de l’allemand . . . auxquels on a ajouté quelques observations sur les inconvéniens et dangers des lunettes communes. 5. éd., revue et corrigée. Paris: Paquet, Blaise, Monnot, Antoine, 1812.
x, [11]-160 p., [1] plate; 20 cm. (8vo)
Bound with Williams (419-421).
Hirschberg §469.
38.1 Beer, Georg Joseph, 1763-1821.
Das Auge, oder Versuch das edelste Geschenk der Schöpfung vor dem höchst verderblichen Einfluss unseres Zeitalters zu sichern. Vienna: Camesina, 1813.
[iii]-viii, 158, [2] p., [6] plates; 19 cm.
A collection of treatises discussing various subjects including the physiological and psychological aspects of blindness, the types of eye deficiencies, the care of the eyes, the use of spectacles, and the “raging spectacle mania” in Vienna. The last chapter is the 1806 report of Beer’s private eye clinic for the poor, which received royal patronage that year. The title page of the book is not typeset, but is an etched plate. Like the third plate, it also bears the engraved phrase “Beer del[ineabat]” suggesting that these plates were etched after Beer’s drawings.
BM 13:1100; Dawson, p. 49; Hirsch I:423; NUC 43:146; Waller 828.
39 Beer, Georg Joseph, 1763-1821.
Lehre von den Augenkrankheiten, als Leitfaden zu seinen öffentlichen Vorlesungen entworfen. Vienna: A. Strauss for Camesina, 1813 (Vol. 2: Heubner & Volke, 1817).
2 v. (xx, 636 p., 4 plates; xvi, li, [1], 680 p., 5 plates); 23 cm. (8vo)
First published in 1792, this influential textbook dictated the techniques of ophthalmological practice for several generations. “He described the symptoms of glaucoma and noted the luminosity of the fundus in aniridia. He was a distinguished iridectomist. Many of his pupils became famous ophthalmic surgeons” (G-M 5842). Seven of the plates were drawn and hand-colored by the author and include forty-four carefully executed illustrations of abnormal eye conditions. Cf. Huldrych M. Koelbing, “Georg Joseph Beer’s Lehre von den Augenkrankheiten (Wien 1813-1817) im Zusammenhang mit der Medizin seiner Zeit,” Clio Medica 5:225-248 (1970).
G-M 5842; Hirschberg §469; Wellcome II:130.
40 Beer, Georg Joseph, 1763-1821.
Art of preserving the sight unimpaired to extreme old age: and of re-establishing and strengthening it when it becomes weak. To which are added observations on the inconveniences and dangers arising from the use of common spectacles. By an experienced oculist. 5th ed., considerably augmented and improved. London: B. Clarke for H. Colburn, 1828.
xi, [1], 259 p., [1], plate; 20 cm.
Beer opposed the injudicious use of common spectacles and in explanation published Pflege gesunder und geschwachter Augen (1800). This work was translated into English in 1813 and quickly went through many editions. The book described above seems to be a re-issue of the fifth London edition published in 1822. It appears that the author’s name is not found on the title pages of any of the many editions of the English translation.
Hirschberg §469; Wellcome II:130.
Beer, Georg Joseph, 1763-1821.
See also Weiss (410.2).
Beger, Christoph Paul, respondent.
“De hydrophthalmia, & hydrope oculi.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 2:[1]-18.
Beger, Philipp Thomas, respondent.
“De synechia, sive praeternaturali adhaesione corneae cum iride.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 1:110-143.
41 Benedict, Traugott Wilhelm Gustav, 1785-1862.
De pupillae artificialis conformatione libellus. Leipzig: F. C. G. Vogel, 1810.
viii, 47 p., [1], plate; 23 cm. (4to)
The various methods of creating an artificial pupil surgically for purely optical purposes are described including the operations of coretotomy (iridotomy), corectomy (iridectomy) and coredialysis (iridodialysis). The procedures of Cheselden, Janin, Wenzel, and Daviel are reviewed but the author focuses on Beer’s operation which became the prototype of all forms of iridectomy.
Hirschberg §501.
42 Benedict, Traugott Wilhelm Gustav, 1785-1862.
Monographie des grauen Staares. Breslau: C. F. Barth, 1814.
vii, [1], 180 p.; 23 cm. (4to)
A treatise on the diagnosis, etiology, and treatment of cataracts based on careful observations and conscientious judgement. The author’s greatest contribution to ophthalmology was his discovery of the etiologic relationship between cataract and diabetes. Benedict personally suffered the ridicule of his contemporaries for his habit of praying before each operation.
Hirschberg §501.
43 Benevoli, Antonio, 1685-1756.
Nuova proposizione intorno alla caruncola dell’uretra detta carnosità . . . Aggiuntavi in fine una lettera . . . sopra la cateratta glaucomatosa. Florence: G. Manni, 1724.
[10], 197, [1] p.; 19 cm. (8vo)
Benevoli acquired a great reputation in the two branches of surgery treated in this work: lithotomy and cataract extraction. The letter to Valsalva reprinted here was originally published in 1722 and contains Benevoli’s observation that cataract was caused by the loss of transparency of the lens rather than by the formation of a membrane in the vitreous body. As a result of the publication of this letter Benevoli was accused by Pierre Paoli, a surgeon of Lucca, of plagiarizing Heister’s opinions on cataract and there followed a spirited exchange of charges, counter-charges and justifications.
Hirschberg §402; Wellcome II:143.
44 Benevoli, Antonio, 1685-1756.
Dissertazioni I. Sovra l’origine dell’ernia intestinale finora non stata avvertita. II. Intorno alla piu frequente cagione dell’iscuria, o sia ritenzione dell’orina nella vescica. III. Sopra il leucoma, detto volgarmente maglia dell’occhio. Aggiuntevi quaranta osservazioni tre delle quali sulla rachitide, e le altre in diversi casi di chirurgia. Florence: G. Albizzini, 1747.
xii, 252 p.; 24 cm. (4to)
At the time this work was published Benevoli was professor of surgery at Florence and oculist (and later chief surgeon) at the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova. The third dissertazione in this collection (p. 55-78) deals with the treatment of leukoma. Three of the forty osservazioni discuss ophthalmological topics: XXI, “Rilassamento della cornea ridotta poi all’esser suo naturale” (p. 161-63); XXIII, “Estrazione di un occhio cancheroso” (p. 167-70); and XXIV, “Estirpazione infelice di un sarcoma dall’orbita destra” (p. 170-75).
Blake, p. 41; Hirsch I:458; Hirschberg §402; Wellcome II:143.
45 Berkeley, George, Bishop of Cloyne, 1685-1753.
An essay towards a new theory of vision. Dublin: A. Rhames for J. Pepyat, 1709.
xiv, [10], 187 p.; 20 cm. (8vo)
Berkeley’s most important work in psychology, containing his “empiristic theory of visual perception which came to dominate all discussions of the subject at least through the end of the nineteenth century” (Pastore, p. 71). Smith (345, 346) and Porterfield (302) criticized Berkeley’s optical theories and sought to refute them through scientific experiments. The printer, Aaron Rhames, was one of Dublin’s leading printers, and is remembered for having printed the first complete English Bible in Ireland. Cf. Burton Chance, “George Berkeley and ’An essay towards a new theory of vision,’” Transactions of the American Ophthalmological Society 40:43-53 (1942).
Hirschberg §455; Keynes 1; Wellcome II:149.
46 Bernard, Claude, 1813-1878.
Précis iconographique de médecine opératoire et d’anatomie chirurgicale. Paris: Crapelet & H. Lahure for Méquignon-Marvis, 1848.
[4], xxiii, [1], 488 p., 114 plates; 18 cm.
Bernard, considered the greatest French physiologist of the nineteenth century, collaborated with Huette on this illustrated textbook of surgery which was reprinted as late as 1873 and translated into English, German, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish. The importance of the work is suggested by the fact that it was given to each surgeon in the United States Army during the Civil War. Nearly fifty pages (p. 110-159) and seven colored plates are devoted to ophthalmic surgery.
Hirschberg §502.
Bernia, Girolamo, fl. 1642-1665, ed.
See Grimaldi (163).
47 Bernstein, Johann Gottlob, 1747-1835.
Neues chirurgisches Lexicon oder Wörterbuch der Wundarzenkunst neuerer Zeiten. Neue vermehrte Auflage. Gotha: C. W. Ettinger, 1787-88.
2 v. (xii, 768; [2], 788, [2] p.); 21 cm. (8vo)
The second edition of a surgical dictionary that became a standard reference work among German-speaking surgeons, being augmented and reprinted many times under various titles through the first quarter of the l9th century. The Lexicon contains numerous articles on ocular surgery.
Blake, p. 44: Hirschberg §426.
48 Berry, George Andreas, 1853-1940.
Diseases of the eye. A practical treatise for students of ophthalmology. Philadelphia: Lea Brothers & Co., 1889.
xvii, [3], 670 p.: ill.; 23 cm.
“Detailed discussion of the symptoms and treatment of diseases of the eye. Special emphasis is laid on the subject of foreign bodies in the eye, and on sympathetic ophthalmia” (BOA I:21, Edin. ed.). One of the interesting features of this work from the point of view of book illustration is the provision of fifty-six chromolithographs in the text, rather than on separate plates. An Edinburgh edition was issued the same year.
49 Bidloo, Govard, 1649-1713.
Exercitationum anatomico-chirurgicarum decas. Leyden: J. Luchtmans, 1704.
[6], 62, 61*-62*, 63-108 p., 7 plates; 18 cm. (8vo)
Bound with the 1656 The Hague edition of Scultetus’s Armamentarium chirurgicum (337).
A collection of ten anatomical and surgical essays by the celebrated Leyden anatomist. In the two essays on the nerves Bidloo maintains that the nerves do not contain fluid but are rather a mass of fibers. In the seventh essay, “De oculo purulento” (p. 73-82), the treatment for hypopyon is described.
Hirsch I:527; Waller 1037; Wellcome II:165.
Bilger, Carl Ferdinand, respondent.
“De ungue oculi, s[eu] pure inter corneae lamellos collecto.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 2:114-140.
50 Billi, Domenico, fl. 1750.
Breve trattato delle malatie degli occhi. Ancona: Bellelli, 1749.
xx, 224, [2] p., 1 plate; 19 cm. (8vo)
Very little is known of Domenico Billi and this book seems to be his only published work. In the preface he explained that he undertook the compilation in an effort to expose Italian surgeons to the trans-Alpine advances in ophthalmology and to remove treatment of eye diseases from itinerant quacks. Hirschberg, who provides the only information about Billi, found this work of value in tracing the development of Italian ophthalmology. Burton Chance (p. 58) describes this as “the earliest treatise in Italian.”
Hirschberg §406.
Biot, Jean-Baptiste, 1774-1862.
See Farrar (133.1).
50.1 Bischoff, Johann, 1716-1779.
Neue optische Beyträge hauptsächlich zu Vergrösserungsgläsern und einigen merkwürdigen Vortheilen bey Fernröhren. Ulm; Frankfurt am Main; Leipzig: Ch. U. Wagner for Gaum, 1760.
3 leaves, 69, [1] p., 2 folded plates; 18 cm. (8vo)
Provenance: M. G. Roesler, Prof., 1772 (inscription); Tabi Kasin-, 1878 (stamp); Ernst Lajos gyüjteménye (stamp).
Bound with Bischoff (50.2).
A treatise offering new contributions to the development of optical instruments, especially of magnifying glasses and telescopes. The author, Johann Bischoff, was a clergyman in Bernhausen, near Stuttgart, for whom optics was an avocation. Most of his writings pertain to this field, but he also published in the fields of mathematics and physics.
NUC 58:617; Poggendorff I:204.
50.2 Bischoff, Johann, 1716-1779.
Beyträge zur Optic, hauptsächlich zu solchen Vergrösserungsgläsern und Fernröhren, bey denen die Collectiv- oder Sammelgläser angebracht werden. Ulm; Frankfurt am Main; Leipzig: Ch. U. Wagner for Gaum, 1764.
52 p.; 18 cm. (8vo)
Bound with Bischoff (50.1).
Bischoff’s second treatise on improvements in optical instruments (cf. 50.1). Despite a four year separation of the imprints, all extant copies feature the two treatises bound together as single volumes. They are fine examples of 18th century typographic art with clearly set Gothic type, handsome woodcut title vignettes, and head- and tail-pieces.
NUC 58:617; Poggendorff I:204.