Item ID: 10456 [From the title slip]: Shintei gyūtō kihō 新訂牛痘奇法 ; [from the Preface]: Shintei tōshu kihō 新訂痘種奇法; [Methods of Smallpox Vaccination, Newly Revised]. Genkyō 広瀬元恭 HIROSE, ed.

HIROSE, Genkyō 広瀬元恭, ed.

[From the title slip]: Shintei gyūtō kihō 新訂牛痘奇法 ; [from the Preface]: Shintei tōshu kihō 新訂痘種奇法; [Methods of Smallpox Vaccination, Newly Revised].

One double-page & two single-page woodcuts. 18.5 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. blue wrappers, orig. block-printed title label on upper cover (label faded), new stitching. Kyoto & Edo: Jishūdō 時習堂, 1849.

Following the general introduction of vaccination by Edward Jenner, the practice spread widely, and it was warmly received by the Chinese. The first tract on vaccination in China was prepared by Alexander Pearson, a surgeon to the East India Company, and was based on Jenner’s books. It was translated into Chinese by Sir George Staunton and published in Canton in 1805 as Yingjili-guo Xinchu Zhongtou Qishu [Novel Book on the New Method of Inoculation, Lately out of England]. There were numerous editions in China, and Keisuke Ito published a version in Japan in 1841.

This is the first edition to be edited by Hirose (1821-70), a physician trained in the Dutch tradition of medicine and a prolific translator of Dutch medical works. It is printed in Chinese, with Japanese reading marks, and contains Hirose’s Preface, a summary of the practice of vaccination, Pearson’s translated text, and numerous notes by Hirose added to the text. Hirose issued the book to ensure that the newly introduced method of vaccination was correctly performed in Japan.

The fine woodcut illustrations depict the vaccination knife, the doctor removing material from lesions of one patient and inoculating another patient, and containers for storing the virus.

Nice copy of a rare book.

❧ Mestler, A Galaxy of Old Japanese Medical Books, Part 1, p. 323. Needham et al., Science and Civilisation in China…Medicine, Vol. 6, Part VI, pp. 149-53.