Observations importantes sur le manuel des accouchemens. Traduites du latin [...] & augmenté [...] par Jacques-Jean Bruier [i.e. Bruhier] d'Ablaincourt. Première partie, où l'on trouve tout ce qui est nécessaire pour les opérations qui les concernent [...] [- Seconde partie, où l'on fait voir la nécessité d'examiner les corps des femmes mortes sans accoucher [...]].

2 parts in 1 vol., 4to: xxxix-[1]-1/368, [369]/431-[2] pp. (large stain on lower part of first quires, some wormtracks).

Contemp. calf (corners def., scratches on covers), gilt orn. spine with 5 raised bands (joints and spine def.), red sp. edges, marbled endpapers (front endpaper def.). In all pl. in acceptable condition.

Later edition of the translation of the first part, first edition of the second part of "Operationes chirurgicae" (1701) by the Dutch obstetrician and orthopedist H. Van Deventer (1651-1724). Ill. with 40 "figures" on 37 engr. pl. mainly representing fetuses but also surgical instruments. Van Deventer was the first to describe precisely the physiology and pathology of the female reproductive system and is therefore seen as "the father of modern midwifery" (Garrison & Morton).
Ref. Blake 118. - Wellcome II:460. - Cp. Garrison & Morton, 3rd ed., 6253.