FAUCHARD, Pierre Le chirurgien dentiste, ou traité des dents, ou l'on enseigne les moyens de les entretenir propres & saines, de les embellir, d'en réparer la perte & de remédier à leurs maladies, à celles des gencives & aux accidens qui peuvent suvenir aux autres parties voisines des dents. Avec des observations & des réflexions sur plusieurs cas singuliers... deuxiéme edition revûë, corrigée & considérablement augmentée. Paris, Pierre Jean Mariette, 1746
2 vols 12mo (168 x 91 mm), pp xxiv [viii] 494; [x] 425 [17], with engraved portrait frontispiece signed 'J. Le Bel pinxit J. B. Scotin Sculp.' and 43 engraved plates; a few plate headlines shaved, light browning towards the end of the second volume, narrow light waterstains in the upper margins of both volumes, generally a clean and fresh copy in contemporary mottled calf, gilt spines, marbled endleaves, red edges. £5000
Second, enlarged and definitive, edition (first 1728) of the first comprehensive work on dentistry, and one of the 'great books' in the history of medicine. 'Fauchard is universally regarded by dental historians as the founder of modern dentistry - indeed, no single individual has had a more profound influence on the development of dentistry' (Grolier). Fauchard (1678-1761) was the first to use the word 'dentiste' to describe his profession and his work marks the beginning of dentistry as a distinct speciality.
'Le chirurgien dentiste discussed every aspect of dentistry with extraordinary thoroughness, and the book was profusely illustrated. In the first volume Fauchard gave a good description of the anatomy of the teeth, set forth rules for their cleaning and preservation, commented that neglect of the teeth is the chief cause of their decay, and devoted a chapter to tartar. He classified dental maladies into three groups and identified more than one hundred morbid conditions. The second volume was entirely devoted to operative dentistry, orthodontics, and in particular prosthetics, the branch of dentistry concerned with false teeth, bridgework, and the like. As a result of Fauchard's comprehensive treatment of his subject, his book became the first worthwhile textbook of dentistry.' (Grolier Medicine).
The second edition was revised and considerably enlarged by the author, including a description of pyorrhea alveolaris, a common affliction of the gums, and it contains two additional plates. Apart from the new plates the illustrations are printed from the original coppers, but with the page numbers altered, and there is some reworking of the portrait frontispiece. For a full analysis of this edition - nearly 50 pages including illustrations - see Vincenzo Guerini, History of Dentistry (1909), pp 259-302 ('We have been able to obtain the second edition of this most important treatise, and of this we now intend making use for accurately analyzing the work, as it is probably more complete than the first, whilst the third, having been published after the author's death, is probably merely a reprint').
Provenance: Jean Bouillet (1690-1777) with his signature 'Bouillet' on title of vol. I. Jean Bouillet of Béziers, who gained his medical degree from medical faculty of Montpellier in 1707 and contributed articles to the Encyclopédie. He presumably bought the book new
Wellcome III, p 12; Blake p. 144; for the first edition see Garrison and Morton 3671; Grolier Medicine 40; Le Fanu p 111; En Français dans le Texte 142; Norman 768; PMM 186
£5000
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