ROUSSET, François (fl. 1588-1590)

Hysterotomotokias [Greek] (Id est) Caesarei partus assertio historiologica. Pars medicae artis interdum naturae extrema patienti, perquam necessaria. In qua agitur de opificio chirurgico humani ortus, aliter fauste succedere nequeuntis, quam per ventris materni solertem incisionem, sospite cum suo foetus matre ipsa. Item Foetus lapidei vige-octennalis causae ... Parisiis, excudebat Dionysius Duvallius, sub Pegaso, in vico Bellovaco. M. D. XC

Paris: Denys du Val, 1590.
8vo, a6 A--2O8 2P2 2Q8, 312 leaves, pp. [12] 596 [16]. Roman and Italic letter. Woodcut headpieces and initial borders. Full page woodcut illustrations on p. 199, 277, 278, 279 and 280. *Dialogus apologeticus pro caesareo partu*, in malevoli cuiusdam pseudoprotei dicteria [imprint as above]. Paris: Denys du Val, 1590 8vo: A--C8 D4, 28 leaves, pp. 56. Roman letter, in verse. Woodcut headpiece and initial border. Manchester 2091. Leaf size and condition: 169 x 106. Waterstains in corners extending into the text in about half of the book but only obtrusive in a few gatherings. A fresh copy. Binding: Contemporary vellum boards. Provenance and annotation: Nineteenth century armorial bookplate of 'Corn. Henr. à Roy' and an undeciphered signature on pastedown. Walter Pagel (1896--1983), signature, undated; B. E. J. Pagel (1930--2007). References: Durling 3967; Manchester 2095.
The first work is the author's enlarged Latin edition of Traitté nouveau de l'hysterotomotokie (Paris, 1581). Caspar Bauhin had issued his own Latin translation with additions at Basle in 1588 (with later editions in 1591 and 1601). A German translation was published in 1583.
§ A much enlarged edition of the first monograph on the Caesarian section, bound with Rousset's reply to objections to the first edition. It was Rousset who gave the operation its name after the supposed birth of Caesar. The first edition was in French and recorded fifteen successful operations carried out by various operators in the preceding 80 years (Garrison--Morton 6236). It was translated into Latin by Caspar Bauhin and published without Rousset's consent at Basle in 1558. This 1590 edition is Rousset's own Latin version, issued by the original publisher, to which Rousset added much new material. 'The book was a masterpiece, and he appears to be the first writer who had the courage to advise the performance of the operation upon a living woman. In the first part of his book, he pointed out the usefulness and necessity of the operation where there was imminent danger to both mother and child in cases where delivery by the natural passage is impossible. Next he established the possibility of the success of the operation by instances of various kinds which proved that wounds of the part to be divided during the operation are not necessarily fatal. Lastly, he entered into a detailed account of several obstetrical complications which were incomparably more terrible than the operation he proposed and which, for the most part, may be avoided by its performance... 'In 1590, Rousset, after further researches in reference to the [Caesarean] operation, published a larger edition of his book ... He extended his arguments in favour of the operation and gave an account of five further successful cases. Two of these patients afterwards had normal deliveries. In the fifth case, which occurred in 1582, it appears that the operator, one John Lucas, was anything but sober at the time of the operation. Rousset, in this connection remarked, "And if the operation succeed with him when drunk, what may not he expect who perform it when sober, according to the justest rules of his art?" 'In 1590 Rousset published an apologetic dialogue on the Caesarean operation ... In this work he considered all the objections which had been made by his adversaries and even took it upon himself to expose them in their proper light which gave him occasion to enlighten and fortify his own way of thinking" (Young, pp. 23, 26--27). Literature: John Harley Young, Caesarean Section. The History and Development of the Operation from Earliest Times (1944).

• GBP 4,000.00 > Andere Währungen
• Bestellnummer: 19763

• Antiquariat: Roger Gaskell (GREAT BRITAIN)