Details
RAMAZZINI, Bernardino (1633-1714). De morbis artificum diatriba. Modena: Antonio Capponi, 1700.
8o (172 x 110 mm). (Several leaves browned and spotted, some minor foxing.) Contemporary Italian vellum over pasteboard. Provenance: Maria Victoria da Luschis of Modena (contemporary inscription on rear free endpaper).
FIRST EDITION of the first treatise to deal systematically with the subject of occupational diseases. Although occasional references had been made to occupational diseases since the time of Hippocrates, Celsus and Galen, and later writers such as Helmont and Paracelsus wrote specifically about the diseases of miners, Ramazzini's "Essay on the Diseases of Artisans" was the first comprehensive work fully devoted to the subject. "Ramazzini methodically collected all this material and added the results of his own investigations into the diseases of manual workers and the relation between their occupations and diseases, besides drawing on the observations of others who had direct experience of such cases. He described miner's phthisis, lead-poisoning of potters, eye-trouble of gilders, printers and other artisans, and included diseases peculiar to doctors. Ramazzini was the first to recognize the social significance of occupational diseases and his book appeared at a most opportune time, since, with the beginning of industrial development in the eighteenth century, prevention of accidents from machinery and the general health of workers became increasingly important" (PMM). Cushing R12; Garrison-Morton 2121, 4478.101; Grolier Medicine 38; Heirs of Hippocrates 592 ("his most important work"); NLM/Krivatsy 9366; Osler 3760; PMM 170; Waller 7727; Wellcome IV, p. 467; Norman 1776.
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FIRST EDITION of the first treatise to deal systematically with the subject of occupational diseases. Although occasional references had been made to occupational diseases since the time of Hippocrates, Celsus and Galen, and later writers such as Helmont and Paracelsus wrote specifically about the diseases of miners, Ramazzini's "Essay on the Diseases of Artisans" was the first comprehensive work fully devoted to the subject. "Ramazzini methodically collected all this material and added the results of his own investigations into the diseases of manual workers and the relation between their occupations and diseases, besides drawing on the observations of others who had direct experience of such cases. He described miner's phthisis, lead-poisoning of potters, eye-trouble of gilders, printers and other artisans, and included diseases peculiar to doctors. Ramazzini was the first to recognize the social significance of occupational diseases and his book appeared at a most opportune time, since, with the beginning of industrial development in the eighteenth century, prevention of accidents from machinery and the general health of workers became increasingly important" (PMM). Cushing R12; Garrison-Morton 2121, 4478.101; Grolier Medicine 38; Heirs of Hippocrates 592 ("his most important work"); NLM/Krivatsy 9366; Osler 3760; PMM 170; Waller 7727; Wellcome IV, p. 467; Norman 1776.