Fabri von Hilden, Wilhelm

Opera observationum et curationum medico-chirurgicarum quae extant omnia. [bound and issued with:] Marco Aurelio Severino. De efficaci medicina lib. III. Frankfurt: Johann Beyer, 1646



2 volumes in one, folio (13 x 7 7/8 in.; 330 x 201 mm). Additonal engraved allegorical title for each work, general letterpress title-page, letterpress title-page for Severino, one engraved plate, numerous engraved and woodcut illustrations in text; some marginal fraying to general title and first engraved title, second engraved title and one woodcut shaved at fore-edge, browned, some dampstaining to second volume. Contemporary calf; worn, spine artlessly repaired with red electrical tape.

Garrison and Morton 60.1; Heirs of Hippocrates 396; Krivatsy 3842, 11053; Waller 2908, 8888

First edition, second issue (with the general title mentioning both works) of the collected works of Fabri von Hilden, "the father of German surgery" (Garrison and Morton), and of Severino's De efficaci medicina.

This edition includes Fabri's "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. ... Severino became well known as a teacher and surgeon. He employed trephination, operated upon harelip, epulis, empyema, and is said to have been the first to perform a tracheotomy to relieve suffocation in diphtheria. Among his works is this important contribution in which he discusses surgical anatomy, phlebotomy, paracentesis, and cautery" (Heirs of Hippocrates 396).