THE MOST COMPLETE BOOK ON SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS
ALSO CONTAINING THE FIRST ILLUSTRATION OF AN OPERATING ROOM
AND THE FIRST ILLUSTRATION OF A NEUROLOGICAL SURGERY OPERATION

Dalla Croce, Giovanni Andrea. Cirugia uniuersale e perfetta di tutte le parti pertinenti all’ottimo chirurgo. Di Gio. Andrea Dalla Croce medico vinitiano. Nella quale si contiene la theorica, et prattica di ciò che può essere nella cirugia necessario, come più ampiamente nel sommario si dichiara. Di nuouo con li dissegni di tutti gl’istromenti antichi & moderni in tal’arte necessarij, posta in luce. Con la tauola de’ capitoli di ciascun libro. In Vinegia, appresso Giordano Ziletti, 1583. [Venice, Francesco Ziletti, 1583].

Folio, later stiff vellum binding with black-lettered title on spine, ff. [8], 100, 109, [1], 59, [1], 13, [1], 54, 24, 41, [1], 35, [1]. Woodcut typographical device at title-page.

Hundreds of woodcuts containing the most complete apparatus of surgical instruments and the first illustration of an operating room. Nearly all of the best known and most frequently used surgical instruments are depicted in historical sequence. The various types of arrows, spears, and bullets used in the warfare of his day are also illustrated as well as several scenes of the typical operating room of the sixteenth century, with wound and surgical operations including dentistry.

Scarce second, revised and increased, Italian edition of Dalla Croce’s fundamental treatise «On Surgery», the most complete Renaissance book of surgical instruments and one of the most beautiful surgery book of every time.

The work is an exhaustive compilation of the surgical operations of the most important authorities of the past, from Hippocrates to Abulcasis, and it is distinguished by the surprisingly modern recommendations for wound management and its high quality of illustration. Divided into 7 books, the work covers all branches of contemporary medicine and is highly renowned for its description of surgical instruments; it analyzes cures for abscesses and tumors and considers the best ways to treat gunshot wounds; it describes ways to prevent bleeding, and gives treatments for ulcers, bone fractures and many other illnesses.

Garrison-Morton: «Croce improved the instruments for trephination, and published classic woodcuts depicting the operation, including the first illustration of a neurological surgery operation actually taking place. The work is also important for Croce’s descriptions of cranial and cerebral diseases. In hundreds of woodcuts of instruments and procedures Croce illustrated all of the instruments used before and during his own time. The depictions of the operations are also the first illustrations of an operating theatre».Plicher: «Dalla Croce, native of Venice, lived in the last half of the sixteenth century. To him are due, especially, the improvements in the apparatus for trephining. He is the first author who has given illustrations of all the instruments for the operation of trephining which had been in use up to his time. The collection of surgical instruments figured in his book is the most complete published to date. Besides the figures which represent these surgical instruments, the illustrations present many figures of men undergoing operations, and of these are three which have particular interest in the history of costumes; two other, full-page size, the manner of givind aid to wounded in war».

Poletti and Diotallevi (De re dentaria) also emphasize the importance of this work for the dentistry.

Giovanni Andrea Dalla Croce was an Italian physician and surgeon. He was born at Venice, where is known to have been a member of the College of Surgeons. About 1560 is mentioned as being one of the city’s most successful surgeons. The present work is Croce’s major contribution and is chiefly an historical compilation of the writings of the important authorities from Hippocrates to Abulcasis. Croce’s recommendations for wound management are surprisingly modern and are similar to some of those used during the early years of this century. The work was first printed in Latin in 1573 and translated into Italian in 1574 (the present edition), then republished in 1587 and 1596 in Latin: it had several editions in the following centuries and was also translated into German. It became a classic work, particularly noteworthy as one of the most important iconographic sources for early surgical instruments, depicting the most important instruments in historical sequence from antiquity to the time of publication.

Provenance: I. Contemporary signature Jacopo Perelli (or Peretti?) at title-page II. Large woodcut ex-libris of the noble French family E. Malan de Mérindol (signed Giuffredi) at the rear pastedown.

References: Censimento, CNCE 16510. Not in Adams, who quotes the 1573 edition (C-2992). Garrison-Morton, 4850.4. Wellcome, I, n. 1669; BMC, p. 274; Hirsch, II, p. 145. Durling, 1085. Cushing, C-477. Heirs of Hippocrates, 266. Sallander, Bibliotheca Walleriana, 2275. Mortimer, Italian sixteenth century books, 142. Parkinson-Lumb, Medical Books in Manchester University Library, 609. Castiglioni, Storia della Medicina, I. pp. 409-410. Pazzini, Bibliografia di storia della chirurgia, p. 80. E. J. Gurlt, Geschichte der Chirurgie und ihre Ausübung, II, pp. 335-360.R. A. Leonardo, Lives of Master Surgeons, 1948, pp. 132-133. L. S. Plicher, Old Masters of Medicine and Surgery, p. 148. G.B. Poletti-L. Diotallevi, De re dentaria apud veteres, Görlich 1951, p. 49.

Some neat repairs in the white margins of few leaves (inluding title-page); the blank leaves before each chapter were probably replaced in the 18th century. Overall, a very fine copy.

NOTE: It is possible to see other photos of the surgical instruments contained in this book at the following link: