first edition
1786 · London
by Buchan, William
London: printed for A. Strahan; T. Cadell, and J. Balfour, 1786. First edition, this being the issue with p. 5 paginated (no priority); 8vo, pp. 20; removed from binding; half title loose, but present. This copy with a presentation on the title page: "To Dr Vigarous / From the aut[hor]." The inscription has lost two letters to the binder. "Dr Vigarous" seems almost certainly to be one of two well-known French physicians of the century: Barthélemi Vigarous (1725-1790) or his son Joseph-Marie-Joachim Vigarous (1759-1828); both were professors of medicine at Montpellier in the south of France. "Before the twentieth century, no single health guide enjoyed as much popularity as [Buchan's] Domestic Medicine. Between 1769 and the last edition, which appeared in Philadelphia in 1871, there were at least 142 separate English-language editions. It was particularly popular in the United States, an American reprint first appearing in 1772." (Inventory #: 50805)