A milestone work on plastic surgery

GRAEFE, Carl Ferdinand von.

Rhinoplastik oder die Kunst den Verlust der Nase organisch zu ersetzen.

Berlin: Realschulbuchhandlung, 1818.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #003512

4to (257 x 208 mm). xvi, 210 pp., 6 folding engraved plates by E. Lud Meyer and C.F. Thiele. Bound in 19th-century cloth-backed boards (minor repair to spine, extremities rubbed). Text generally clean and bright, just the title and final text leaf a bit browned and spotted, vertical crease to final text leaf, the plates somewhat browned and spotted. In all a very good copy. ----

Garrison-Morton 5738; Wallace 15; Waller 3691; Wellcome III, 143, not in Norman cat. - EXTREMELY RARE FIRST EDITION of the founding work describing the plastic surgical procedures for altering and reconstructing the nose. "The first great treatise on plastic surgery after Tagliacozzi and Carpue. [Von Graefe's] pioneer work in introducing the Indian method and reviving the Tagliacotian mathod of rhinoplasty in Germany stimulated the development of plastic surgery throughout Europe and in the United States" (Gnudi & Webster, The Life and Times of Gaspaere Tagliacozzi, p. 321). The plates include the most complete illustration of the arm-flap rhinoplasty after Tagliacozzi, as well as von Graefe's refinements of the Indian forehead-flap method. Von Graefe's use of the term 'Rhinoplastik' probably contributed to the field's name of 'plastic surgery'.

Karl Ferdinand von Graefe (1787-1840) studied medicine at Halle and Leipzig, and after obtaining his licence from Leipzig, he was in 1807 appointed a private physician to Duke Alexius of Anhalt-Bernburg. In 1811, he became a professor of surgery and director of the ophthalmological institute at the University of Berlin. His lectures at the University of Berlin attracted students from all parts of Europe. During the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon, he was a superintendent of military hospitals. When peace was concluded in 1815, Graefe resumed his professorial duties. He was also appointed physician to the general staff of the Prussian army, and he became a director of the Friedrich Wilhelm Institute and of the Medico-Chirurgical Academy (Charité). Graefe was a pioneer of plastic and reconstructive surgery, and a founder of German rhinoplastic surgery. He developed his own techniques in regards to rhinoplasty, being modifications of the Italian methods of Gasparo Tagliacozzi (1545-1599) as well as Indian surgical practices from long ago. He also made contributions towards the development of cleft palate repair, and was a pioneer of eyelid surgery, coining the term "blepharoplasty" in 1818. (Wikisource). This work is very rare: no copies are shown in Osler, Cushing, Norman, Orr, Reynolds or Heirs of Hippocrates. - Visit our website to see more images!

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