Operating Room Technique, An Unpublished Manuscript

Cambridge, MA, 1942. General wear and soiling due to age. Some pages have minor tears.. A collection of materials relating to the unpublished manuscript entitled "Operating Room Technique", written by Louis H. Nason, M.D. (1906-1994) a surgeon at Beth Israel Hospital, and professor at Harvard Medical School. The materials appear to cover at least two different early drafts of the book, with some sections completely handwritten, and other having extensive edits. There are even a few hand drawn diagrams presumably done by Nason himself, to depict what he wanted illustrated in that section. There is one page which must have been from a later draft as it has a pasted in black and white photograph of the surgical instruments needed to perform a cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal). The titles of the book's sections are: 'Operative Procedures', 'Instruments, Suture Material, Supplies', 'Suture Material' (this appears to be an expansion of the previous section), 'The Operating Suite', 'The Care of the Patient in the Operating Room - Just Before and Immediately After the Operation', 'The Sterile Scrubbed Nurse', 'The Circulating Nurse', 'Anesthesia', and 'Sterilization'. In total there is approximately one hundred and fifty (150) pages, the majority of which are typeset, and about six (6) are completely handwritten. Several of the sections have been stapled or paper clipped together, though about a third of the collection is loose, with little to no organization. The collection also contains an announcement addressed to the faculty at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, dated October 1940, which declares that a publication fund will be provided for the next three years to help faculty members publish books. The fund would establish a committee that would, among other things, supply authors with "consulting advice on the proper preparation of manuscripts for publication". Lastly there is an unused patient record folder from Beth Israel Hospital.

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Note: Eclectibles previously sold what appears to have been a later draft of this unpublished manuscript, at that point it was entitled "Operating Room Technique for Nurses" and was 145 typescript pages with nine chapters: 'The Operating Suite', 'Sterilization', 'The Sterile Scrub Nurse', 'The Circulating Nurse', 'The Care of the Patient in the Operating Room', 'Anesthesia', 'Operative Procedures, Instruments, Suture Materials and Supplies', and 'The Operating Suite Work Room.'. Louis Howard Nason was born on June 2, 1906 to Abraham Nasikovsky/Nason (1870-1939) and Annie Obijiblier Obber (1875-1957) in Boston, MA. A a child Louis suffered from polio and rheumatic fever. He had six siblings: Sarah "Sadie" Nason DeMark (1895-1973), Harry Nason (1898-1987), Pauline "Pearl" Nason (1899-1975), Anna Nason (1901-?), Dorothy Nason (1903-1969) and Marcus Nason (1913-2006). He married Jean E. Altman (1906-1987) on November 20, 1926 and had three children Phyllis Nason Salloway (1938-2015), Elliot Robert Nason (1933-?), and Dr. Jeffrey David Nason (1939-?). He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. He was a surgical resident at Beth Israel Hospital from 1931 to 1936, and after receiving an award to study surgery in Europe for a year he returned to practice at Beth Israel while also serving as a faculty member of Harvard Medical School. In 1961 he became the Chief of Surgery at Brookline Hospital, where he stayed until his retirement in 1983. He died on October 7, 1994, at the age of 88.