Large 4to. [vi], 361 (r. 362), [22] pp. Disbound, with evidence of former binding (German printed paper waste, glue, and sewing all visible on spine; repairs to first and last leaf). “Cours Complet Éleve Sage-Femme – écris de 1874 – à Strasbourg,” written in pencil on front.
An enormous, densely and neatly written record of a midwifery course at a maternity hospital in Strasbourg in 1874, written by a female student in German (with some French). Midwifery, traditionally regarded as a woman’s expertise rather than a medical science, was transformed in 1751 by the founding of the lying-in hospital at Göttingen, where students (male and female) were taught for the first time by university professors. This manuscript follows in that tradition of clinical study. Zoll’s obstetrics professor, Georges Adolphe Aubenas (1829-1906), joined the surgery and childbirth ward of the Faculté de Médicine at the University of Strasbourg in 1860 after publishing a thesis on tumors of the vulva. In 1871, he became chair of childbirth and infant disease. The manuscript concludes with seven pages written by fellow female students, forming an ad hoc album amicarum, followed by a two-page list of Zoll’s classmates – five French and 21 German, all women – plus an extensive index of subject matter at the end.
Offered by Zoe Abrams Rare Books
$1750
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