First Edition of Polymath Thomas Young's 'A Practical and Historical Treatise on Consumptive Diseases' (1815)
YOUNG, Thomas (1773-1829) 'A Practical and Historical Treatise on Consumptive Diseases Deducted from Original Observations and Collected from Authors of all Ages'
Pub. LONDON: Printed by ER Howlett... 1815. Collation: Half title, title, pp[v]-xii, 496pp First Edition.
This is an historical account of tuberculosis with accounts from many authors. This volume was personal, given Young's own contraction of tuberculosis as a teenager. Young was often called 'the marvel of his age', achieving highly in multiple fields and being appointed to a large variety of positions. Physician to St Georges Hospital, he was a accomplished linguist, studied Egyptian Hieroglyphics, worked out the meaning of the inscription on the Rosetta Stone, in physical optics he worked out the undulatory theory of light. He was appointed Secretary of the Board of Longitude to supervise the Nautical Almanac for the Admiralty. He died before his Egyptian dictionary could be completed.
Quarter Brown leather with buckram boards & gold embossed title to spine, some indented pages, p9-12 chip to base of pages, minor foxing and tanning, few marks.
KF Russell tag, Signature on back fly leaf - WA Osborne (William Alexander Osborne, 1873-1967 was professor of physiology, University of Melbourne) (211x137mm)


PROVENANCE:
Collection Late Kenneth F. Russell (1911-1987), Professor of Anatomy and Medical History, University of Melbourne.

Estimate $400-600