PANCOAST, JOSEPH. 1805-1882.


A Treatise on Operative Surgery. Philadelphia: Carey & Hart, 1844. Large 4to (310 x 254 mm). 6 pp publisher's advertisements at head, 80 lithographic plates. Publisher's blue cloth, decorated in blind and titled in gilt. Covers worn, corners bumped, scattered foxing. WITH: Second edition, 1846. 80 hand-colored lithographic plates. Rebound, with original black top and bottom cover cloth laid down. Scattered foxing.FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS, the latter with hand-colored plates. The highly detailed and graphic plates illustrate 19th century surgical procedures, prior to the discovery of anesthesia. Pancoast included some of the earliest and most extensive descriptions of plastic surgery published in America. "Copies with hand-colored plates are among the most magnificent of all American surgical books issued in the 19th century and are exceptionally rare" (Rutkow, The Hisory of Surgery in the United States, 1775-1900, volume 1). Garrison-Morton 5598; Heirs of Hippocrates 1677; Waller 5598 & 7083.