"Surgery of the Head." In: Surgery, Its Principles and Practice, Edited by W. W. Keen, Volume 3, pp. 17-276 with 154 text illustrations. Entire volume offered. FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING.

CUSHING, Harvey

Published by Philadelphia & London: W. B. Saunders, 1908.

About this Item

Collation of entire volume: 2 leaves [list of contributors, title page], 11-1132 pp; 562 text illustrations and 10 color plates. Original red cloth. Spine lightly spotted. Top of spine frayed. Bottom of spine rubbed. Signature of former owner (looks like Robert Reed), dated May 1908, on front pastedown. Very Good. First Edition, First Printing. This is the first printing of volume III, which went through many later printings (I have seen a ninth printing of vol. III in 1919, and there could be an even later printing). Cushing Bibliography no. 93: "This is Dr. Cushing's first systematic treatise on the technique of neurological surgery." Although a chapter in a book, the chapter is book-length, 260 pages. Cushing's first book was published in 1912. Garrison-Morton 4880.1. "In November 1904 he made his first report upon the special field of neurological surgery in an address before the Academy of Medicine at Cleveland. . . . In the space of a single lecture there was little opportunity for a discussion of technical procedures. This, however, came in his next major publication on neurological surgery, the preparation of which occupied the greater part of his leisure time during the years 1906 and 1907. When W. W. Keen invited Cushing to contribute a section on the surgery of the head for his five-volume Surgery, he had limited him to eighty printed pages, and he was not a little disturbed when H. C. coolly submitted a highly illustrated manuscript running to some 800 typed pages which was eventually compressed into a monograph of 276 pages and 154 illustrations. . . . As a result of this detailed monograph, neurological surgery became almost at once recognized as a clear-cut field of surgical endeavor. During the six-year period between his return from Berne and the completion of the manuscript on the 'Surgery of the head,' Cushing had not only succeeded in making brain surgery a recognized specialty, but he had begun to attract students who sought to learn his techniques and procedures" (Fulton, Harvey Cushing, pp. 267-268).

Seller Inventory # 17752

Bibliographic Details

• Title: "Surgery of the Head." In: Surgery, Its Principles and Practice, Edited by W. W. Keen, Volume 3, pp. 17-276 with 154 text illustrations. Entire volume offered. FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING.
• Publisher: Philadelphia & London: W. B. Saunders, 1908.
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Very Good