THE HEALING HAND: Man and Wound in the Ancient World

Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1975. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Presentation copy, inscribed on the half-title by the author to Dr. Robert E. Tranquada, then chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where Majno was chair of the Department of Pathology. Quarto: xxiii, 571 p. with 15 color plates and numerous textual illustrations. Original cream cloth binding, with black stamping. The dust jacket is price-clipped, with light sun fading along the spine and some general edgewear; otherwise very good.

Majno (1922-2010) claimed his history of the wound and its treatment was written by accident. "It was going to be the preface to a monograph on inflammation, which is more properly my field, and the preface took over." Majno's flip introduction masks a deeply researched work exploring how wounds were treated in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, and China. "In sum, what we have here is that rare book, a work of scholarship that aims to be accessible to the general reader. And the first thing to be said is that Majno has turned the trick, triumphantly," the review in ISIS, the journal of the History of Science, said. Majno's book appeared to glowing reviews in both medical journals ("It is one of those classics that must be read and enjoyed and then reviewed from time to time to be fully appreciated" -American Journal of Pathology) and newspapers ("Extraordinary [...] must be considered the standard text on ancient medicine" -Philadelphia Inquirer).