PBA Galleries

[2], 20, [2], 207, [1] pp. With the half-title and the often lacking leaf a1, blank but for the signature mark and two short rules. Large engraved folding frontispiece, in the rare uncolored state. (8vo) 20x13 cm (8x5") modern dark green half morocco and marbled boards. First Edition.

Partial inscription "from the Author" at head of title page, the recipients name having been trimmed. The folding plate is a reversed copy of the plate in Curtis's Flora Londinensis with two lower leaves pointing to the left and with the artist's name appearing lower right. "Withering was one of the ablest clinicians of his day and one of the most famous men in Europe. He was graduated from Edinburgh in 1766 and soon enjoyed a successful practice in Birmingham. Despite his medical work, Withering found time to follow a number of other pursuits: he was a mineralogist, climatologist, inventor, cattle breeder, accomplished musician, and botanist. His first major scientific contribution, A botanical arrangement of all the vegetables naturally growing in Great Britain (1776), was a standard botanical work for many years. His fame, however, rests on his celebrated work with the foxglove plant (Digitalis). Beginning his research after hearing of an old country woman who used the herb to cure dropsy, Withering used foxglove to treat congestive heart failure with some success. Its introduction into the Edinburgh pharmacopoeia in 1783 and its subsequent widespread acceptance eventually led to its overuse and Withering's classic Account of the foxglove was actually written as a protest against such abuse. The book includes 163 cases involving the use of digitalis and is regarded as one of the classics in pharmacology." Heirs of Hippocrates, No. 1039. Cushing W254; Garrison-Morton 1836; Osler 426; Norman 2255.