Chirurgie, in welcher alles, was zur Wundarzney (Surgery, in which everything that belongs to...)

Chirurgie, in welcher alles, was zur Wundarzney gehöret, nach der neuesten und besten Art, gründlich abgehandelt, und in acht und dreyßig Kupfertafeln die neuerfundene und dienlichste Instrumente, nebst den bequemsten Handgriffen der chirurgischen Operationen und Bandagen deutlich vorgestellet werden ("Surgery, in which everything that belongs to the surgical procedure is thoroughly dealt with in the latest and best way, and the newly invented and most useful instruments, along with the most comfortable handles for surgical operations and bandages, are clearly presented in thirty eight copper plates"), Lorenz Heister (1683-1758). Publisher: Gabriel Nicolaus Raspe, Nuremberg, 1763. Lorenz Heister was a professor of anatomy, botany and surgery in Universities of Altdorf and Helmstadt and is considered the founder of scientific surgery in German-speaking countries.

"Chirurgie, in welcher alles, was zur Wundarzney gehöret..." is the main work of Prof. Heister and enjoyed great popularity in the 18th century and went through numerous editions.

Description of the object

Pages: Content 16 + Text 1078 + Tables description 24 + Copper plates 38. Pages 321-322 missing. The copper plates in this edition, presumably made by Heister himself, show surgical instruments and operations. The major work by Lorenz Heister, first published in Altdorf in 1718. "In his famous surgical major work he summarized everything that had been achieved in this area up to that point and made it the property of science" (Hirsch). "The book owes its great success in part to the fact that it was the first textbook on surgery written in German and that Heister, who carefully used the best domestic and foreign sources and added his own experiences, gave surgery its (in Germany at least) understood how to provide the missing basis of anatomy".

Provenance

Property from a South-German private collection, acquired in the mid-20th century. 

Acquired from the above in 2019 at Yves Siebers Auktionen GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany on 13.11.2019

References

• Garrison & Morton 5576;
• Hirsch-H. III, 141;
• Waller 4265

Other Editions and Publications 

• Chirurgie, in welcher alles was zur Wund Artzney gehöret, nach der neuesten und besten Art, gründlich abgehandelt wird... Nuremberg, 1718; 1724; 1731; 1745; 1747; 1770. 
• Latin edition: Institutiones chirurgicae. Leyden, 1739; Amsterdam. Later Latin edition: Institutiones chirurgicae, in quibus quidquid ad rem chirurgicam pertinet, optima et novissima ratione pertractatur. . . . Opus quadraginta fere annorum, nunc demum, post aliquot editiones germanica lingua evulgatas, in exterorum gratiam latine altera vice longe auctius atque emendatius publicatum.
• Dutch edition: Amsterdam: Jansson-Waesberge, 1750. 
• English edition: A general system of surgery in three parts. 2 volumes in 1. London, W. Innys, 1743.
• Italian edition: Instituzioni chirurgiche. 2 volumes. Venice: Presso Francesco Pitteri, 1765.
• Also translated into French, Spanish, and Japanese.
• New and improved German edition: 
  Dr. Lorenz Heisters, Chirurgie in welcher alles, was zur Wundarzney gehöret, nach der neuesten und besten Art, gründlich abgehandelt, und in acht und dreyßig Kupfertafeln die neuerfundene und dienstlichste Instrumente, nebst den bequemsten Handgriffen der chirurgischen Operationen und Bandagen deutlich vorgestellet werden. Nürnberg: bey Gabriel Nicolaus Raspe, 1763