“The First Japanese Book on Military Surgery of the European School”

ŌTSUKI, Shunsai 大槻俊斎.

Jūsō sagen 銃創瑣言 [Treatment of Gunshot Wounds].

1854. Four full-page woodcut illus. .5, 33 folding leaves. Large 8vo, orig. blue wrappers (covers discolored & rubbed), new stitching. [Japan]: 1854.

First edition of a very rare book. Ōtsuki (1806-62), physician to the shogun, studied in Nagasaki under Siebold, where he learned Western medicine. He popularized vaccination in Japan. “Otsuki also translated unidentified writings of both von Chelius and Georg Friedrich Most, supposedly from Dutch editions, to compose a one-volume work on the treatment of gunshot wounds entitled Juso sagen, published about 1854…That work was the first Japanese book on military surgery of the European school.”–Mestler, A Galaxy of Old Japanese Medical Books, III, p. 157.

The fine woodcuts depict many Western surgical instruments, including scalpels, saws, and a series of orthopedic braces.

Fine copy. Final nine leaves with marginal worming, repaired.

Price: $6,500.00

Item ID: 10713