La Pratique des Accouchemens Soutenue d'un Grand Nombre d'Observations

Paris: Gabriel Martin, 1685. Hardcover. Very Good. 12mo - over 6. The Practice of Sustained Births of a Large Number of Observations. Contemporary mottled calf with five raised bands and gilt titles to spine, 7 1/2 x 5 inches, [20],368 pages, 8 engraved plates, no author portrait at frontis and perhaps lacking a front free endpaper; occasional spots wearing through at extremities, three tiny worm holes at top of rear board, one at tail of spine and another slightly larger at head of front joint, some writing scribbled out at top edge of title page, brief inked notation in rear, pages show standard browning and waving as typical of books of this age, a couple of handwritten corrections to text: for example, the word "humeur" has been lined out and "tumeur" has been written next to it in the margin. Overall the book is remarkably clean and sound. Paul Portal was a renowned obstetrician in his day, and he made some ground-breaking observations. His most important contribution to the field of midwifery was likely his recognition of placenta previa and practices for its management. The book consists of more than 80 personal observations in obstetrics with detailed descriptions of problem cases. The plates show monstrous and deformed fetuses. A wonderfully well preserved early medical textbook!