Theatrum tabidorum: or, the nature and cure of consumptions

London: W. and J. Innys, 1720. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. Wooduct initials, head- and tailpieces, 1 folding plate. Contemporary paneled calf, rebacked; slight foxing on preliminary leaves, overall a fine copy. First English edition. Originally published in Latin in 1654, this was an important contribution to the subject of pulmonary tuberculosis. Bennet includes his observations on a number of his cases and dissections. “Its most valuable feature is the constant reference to causes observed and to dissection, not to authority which gives the little treatise an honorable place among the earlier examples of the modern method in medicine.” The plate illustrated instruments to use for what the author terms fumigation” or means of inhaling steam, to which he attaches great importance

Bennet (1617-1655), a successful London physician, became himself a victim of tuberculosis and died at the age of 38.

DNB, II, p. 229; Osler, 2010.