A Treatise on Lesser Surgery; or the Minor Surgical Operations by D.M.P. Bourgery, Translated from the French with notes and an appendix by William C. Roberts and James B. Kissam

New York: Charles S. Francis, 1834. First American.

FIRST AMERICAN TRANSLATION OF TREATISE ON MINOR SURGERY BY NOTED FRENCH ANATOMIST, COPY OF ALEXANDER H. BAYLY, DATED 1835 - YEAR OF HIS MD FROM UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.

9 1/4 inches tall hardcover, recent marbled paper covered boards cloth spine, new endpapers, pages untrimmed, light foxing throughout, overall very good-. Section of original free endpaper affixed to front paste-down, containing contemporary ink signature of Alexander H. Bayly, Cambridge Md, 1835, i-xvi (leaf containing list of testimonials by American physicians of the original French edition [1829], dedication to Valentine Mott, M.D., mentor of the translators, List of Subscribers, Translators' Preface, Author's Preface, Index), pp 1-376, , i-xxviii (Appendix by the Translators).

JEAN-BAPTISTE MARC BOURGERY (1797 – 1849) was a French physician and anatomist who was a native of Orléans. In 1815 he began his studies in Paris, where he attended courses given by naturalist Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829). From 1817 to 1820 he worked as an interne at Parisian hospitals, and subsequently spent several years as a medical officer at the copper foundries in Romilly-sur-Seine. In 1827 he returned to Paris and received his medical doctorate. In 1830 he began work on Traité complet de l'anatomie de l'homme comprenant la médecine operatoire., a masterpiece on human anatomy that was published in eight volumes. Bourgery worked on the atlas until his death in 1849, with the last volume being published posthumously.

PROVENANCE: ALEXANDER HAMILTON BAYLY (1814-1892), was born in Cambridge, Dorchester County, Maryland. By 1832, he began to study medicine under Dr. Vans Murray Sullivan of Cambridge and worked under Dr. Samuel Baker of Baltimore. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Maryland in 1835. Dr. Bayly was known for his efficiency as a surgeon and in 1846 was the first to employ the use of a horse-shoe magnet to remove a piece of metal from the cornea. In addition to his renowned medical practice, Bayly was the President of the State Lunacy Commission.