OSANAI, Gen'yo.

Ganka yakusetsu [trans.: Summary of Ophthalmology].

22 finely hand-colored full-page woodcuts. 35; 39, 30 folding leaves. Three vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers (some marginal worming in Vol. III), orig. block printed title label on each upper cover, new stitching. Tokyo: 1872.

First edition in Japanese of this collection of translations from a variety of Western ophthalmological texts. NLM suggests the author was Paul Silex (1858-1929), but this is clearly impossible. The present work is the earliest work published in Japan on Western techniques in ophthalmology, preceding the Ika zensho ganka-hen of 1879 (see Mestler, A Galaxy of Old Japanese Medical Books, IV, p. 336.

The attractive plates, all finely hand-colored, depict ophthalmological instruments and a series of surgical procedures.

Fine and fresh set.

Price: $2,750.00

Item ID: 5002