NIGHTINGALE, FLORENCE. 1820-1910.


Notes on Nursing: What it is and What it is Not. London: Harrison, [1860]. 8vo. Yellow endpapers with publisher's advertisements. Publisher's black pebbled cloth, gilt titles on cover. Wear to spine, spotting, text block cracking after 2nd leaf.FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING, without the phrase "The right of translation is reserved" on title page, and with uncorrected printer's errors, but with the yellow endpapers with printed advertisements. "The earliest known copy of the Notes is in the Nurses' Home at St. Thomas's Hospital and bears the inscription in Florence Nightingale's hand: 'For my dear Beatrice from her loving F.N. New Year's Day 1860. This copy does NOT carry '[The right of translation is reserved]' on the title page under the publisher's imprint and the end papers are plain yellow. Almost immediately the publishers put in advertisement end papers. Some time in February 1860 the book was reissued, its many textual errors still uncorrected, but with '[The right of translation is reserved]' inserted on the title page" (Bishop & Goldie. A Bio-Bibliography of Florence Nightingale, London, 1962). Considered the greatest figure in the history of nursing, Florence Nightingale managed and trained nurses during the Crimean War, and strove to improve the standard of quality of nursing care worldwide. Bishop & Goldie, pp 15-18; Garrison Morton 1612; Norman 1602.