Wilhelm Fabri von Hilden 1646

FABRI von HILDEN, Wilhelm (1560-1634) and Marco Aurelio SEVERINO (1580-1656). Opera observationum et curationum medico-chirurgicarum quae extant omnia.
[bound as issued with:] SEVERINO, Marco Aurelio. De efficaci medicina lib. III. Frankfurt: Johann Beyer, 1646.

First editions, first issues, of the collected works of Fabri von Hilden, the founder of scientific surgery, and of Severino’s De efficaci medicina (Garrison and Morton). Fabri was a bold and inventive surgeon who seems to have worked closely with his wife, a midwife named Marie Colinet who developed a technique for removing metal fragments from the eye using a magnet. "This large folio edition of his collected works includes his separately published monographs on dysentery, burns, lithotomy, and anatomy. Congenital malformations, skull fractures, carcinoma of the eye and penis, hydrocele, gangrene, mineral water baths, the concept of removing some healthy tissue along with the necrotic tissue in amputation, and a special operation for hernia are among the many topics discussed in his writings. Among the numerous instruments and appliances he designed were a bullet extractor, a tourniquet for controlling hemorrhage, a urinal for ambulatory use, and a field-chest of drugs and instruments for use by the army" (Heirs of Hippocrates). Also included here is an important work by the anatomist Marco Aurelio Severino, who pioneered the use of ice in surgical anesthesia and is thought to be the first to use tracheotomy to treat diphtheria. Garrison and Morton 60.1; Heirs of Hippocrates 396; Krivatsy 3842 and 11053; Waller 2908 and 8888.

Two volumes in one, folio (308 x 211mm). Engraved additional titles in both works, one full-page engraving in Opera, smaller engraved and woodcut illustrations in the text, one woodcut of the heart with hand-coloring (some browning throughout). Contemporary German with yapp edges (lacking ties). Provenance: occasional underlining in text – later French bibliographic note on flyleaf.