1836 Histoire Generale et Particuliere des Anomalies de l'Organisation Chez l'Homme et les Animaux: [General and Particular History of Organizational Anomalies in Man and Animals]

Paris: J.-B. Bailliere, 1832, 1836, 1836, 1837. First edition. 1830s

LANDMARK ILLUSTRATED TREATISE ON TERATOLOGY BY FOUNDER OF THE DISCIPLINE.

Three text volumes 13.5 x 21.5 cm bound in printed paper wraps (uncut) and atlas harcover volume, 14x22 cm marbled paper covered boards, leather spine with gilt title. CONTENTS: Vol. I, bookseller ticket verso cover, i-xiv, 746 pp, [2]; Vol. II, [2], 571 pp, 2 folding tables; Vol. III, [2], 618 pp, [1], 32 pp publisher's catalogue; Atlas, 8 pp, 20 lithographed plates, one partially colored, i-xx table of contents. Soiling to covers and edges of text volumes, wear to cover edges, paper binding to Vol. I loose, light scattered foxing, contemporary ink notations to figures. Very good first edition complete set of this landmark pioneering illustrated treatise on human and animal teratology,

ISIDORE GEOFFROY SAINT HILAIRE (1805 – 1861) was a French zoologist and an authority on deviation from normal structure. He was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1833, was in 1837 appointed to act as deputy for his father at the faculty of sciences in Paris. In Treatise on Teratology, Geoffroy Saint Hilaire introduced the term tératologie, designating it as the study of congenital anomalies. He worked on the treatise for over four years, releasing the first volume in 1832 and the atlas in 1837. The treatise describes various teratological studies that his predecessors and colleagues performed along with his own observations of mammal hybridization and birth abnormalities. For example, he studied animals with both male and female reproductive organs (hermaphrodites) and parasitic conjoined twins (omphalosites). The publication of his Treatise better enabled researchers to empirically study the causes of developmental anomalies, rather than attributing such anomalies to supernatural forces. He became successively, inspector of the academy of Paris (1840), professor of the museum on the retirement of his father (1841), inspector-general of the university (1844), a member of the royal council for public instruction (1845), and professor of zoology at the Faculty of Sciences (1850).

GARRISON-MORTON No. 534.58 "Isidore, the son of Étienne (See No. 534.57) organized all known human and animal malformations taxonomically. Many principles governing abnormal development were enunciated for the first time in this work. It also introduced hundreds of names for specific malformations, many of which are still in use. For comprehensive coverage of rare anomalies it is still of value as a reference source."