The Art of Midwifery Improv'd Fully and Plainly Laying Down Whatever Instructions are Requisite to Make a Compleat Midwife. And the Many Errors in All the Books Hitherto Written upon This Subject Clearly Refuted. Illustrated with 38 Cuts Curiously Engraven on Copper Plates, Representing in Their Due Proportion, the Several Positions of a Foetus. Also a New Method, Demonstrating, How Infants Ill Situated in the Womb, Whether Obliquely, or in a Strait Posture, May, by the Hand Only, Without the Use of Any Instrument, Be Turned into Their Right Position, Without Hazarding the Life Either of Mother or Child. . . .

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7 leaves, 328 pp; 38 figs. on 5 folding plates. Recent full leather, antique style. Old signature on title page. Title page browned, and slightly worn along the edges. Pages 267-328 browned. Very Good. First Edition in English of Garrison-Morton 6253 (citing 1st Dutch ed., 1701). "Deventer is called the father of modern midwifery because of the great importance of his work New Light for Midwives (1701). In this work we find the first thorough study of the anatomy of the pelvis, and its deformities and the effect of the latter in complicating labor. So valuable was Deventer's contribution that it remained authoritative for one hundred and fifty years. . . . In 1716 an English translation appeared under the title The Art of Midwifery Improved [offered here] . . . . So little attention was paid to pelvic abnormalities up to Deventer's time that he felt inclined to apologize for his consideration of the subject" (Thoms, Classical Contributions to Obstetrics and Gynecology, p. 11). Deventer's "wife was an accomplished midwife and much of Van Deventer's success is due to her assistance in his obstetrical practice and in the writing of a book to meet the practical needs of the midwife" (Hagelin, Byrth of Mankynde, p. 87; pp. 86-89, 1701 Latin ed.). Cutter & Viets, Short History of Midwifery, pp. 13 and 180. Heirs of Hippocrates 678 (1734 French ed.). Seller Inventory # 16110

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