208 pp. Illustrated with 48 plates containing numerous artotype prints of skin conditions, hand colored by Joseph Gaertner. (4to) 29.8x22.5 cm (11¾x8¾"), rebound in period black cloth, lettering on spine in gilt, all edges marbled; reinforced hinges, new endpapers. First Edition.
Published 8 years after the first series, this 'Second Series' is substantially more illustrated, from the preface: "In the present work many of the illustrations have been doubled or tripled in order to show different phases of a given disease." Bound by and former copy of The University of Nebraska, bookplate on pastedown.
The photos are artotypes, a form of photolithography printed in ink from a photographic plate in bichromate gelatin. Updated version of first medical book showing accurate, color photographs of skin diseases. Fox, considered the "Dean of Dermatology," was a co-founder of the American Dermatological Association. He writes in his preface: "The study of skin diseases without cases or colored plaques is like the study of osteology without bones, or the study of geography without maps. Even if a manual is complete or practical , his verbal descriptions cannot be compared. in value with a view of the things described or, at best, his faithful representation...[Moreover] Photographs...have generally lacked an essential element of diagnosis, viz., the color, or have been disfigured by careless daubing, and colored lithographs...in too many instances lacked fidelity to nature both in form and color." G&M 3996
Condition:
Touches of wear to cloth, rubbing to bottom of spine; occasional foxing, marginal toning to textblock, interior bright throughout; very good or better.