Medicine. A Choice Collection of Books from 1450-1850. Catalogue...

introduction: 'The books here offered for sale were for the greater part brought together in the course of the eighteenth century by three generations of physicians named Despine or alternatively d'Espine of Montpellier. They were probably descendants of the poet D'Espine who lived in Paris during the first half of the seventeenth century but had to leave for the South of France because of political difficulties. These descendants studied medicine at the famous Medical Faculty of Montpellier and acquired there - as the present collection will show - both a keen interest in the medical problems of their days as well as an historical interest in the development of medicine abroad and in which their Faculty played such an important part.The present catalogue affords a view of the rise of medicine throughout the Middle Ages the Renaissance and up to the middle of the 19th century. Among the many subjects three have a preponderance: A. plague cholera and Eastern diseases - B. venerial diseases - C. smallpox with its interconnected literature both in favour of and against inoculation and vaccination which followed Jenner's immortal discovery. A fourth category may be added viz. Anatomy.' The introduction appears in English and in French. With a subject index an