EUROPEAN MEDICINE FOR AMERICANS. Nothnagel's Encyclopedia of Practical Medicine

Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co., 1904-1909. First and second editions.

1904-1909 COMPLETE SET OF ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF LANDMARK GERMAN MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA EDITED BY NOTABLE AMERICAN PHYSICIANS, INCLUDING OSLER.

Twelve heavy hardcover volumes, 9 1/2 inches tall, 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 inches thick, 646 - 1059 pages (total nearly 10,000 pages, illustrated with hundreds of figures and dozens of plates. Bindings strong, with scattered soiling/spotting of covers, corner and edgewear, browning to endpapers, no markings in text, no library markings except for Vol. XII with small bookplate of El Paso County Medical Society Library (no other library marks), old waterstain to corner of pages of Vol. IV (not affecting text). Vol. XII is first edition, first printing; Vol. VII is second edition, first printing; remaining volumes are first edition, later printings. An excellent scarce complete set of an important compendium of early 20th century center of European medical science and education edited for American physicians before the rise of subspecialties.

CARL WILHELM HARMANN NOTHNAGEL (1841 – 1905) studied under Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902) at the University of Berlin. From 1882 until his death in 1905, he was a professor at the university clinic in Vienna. In 1876 he described the irregular pulse associated with atrial fibrillation. At the time he referred to this finding as "delirium cordis". In collaboration with other physicians, Nothnagel published "Specielle Pathologie und Therapie", a comprehensive 24-volume handbook of medicine. Prior editions of this work were issued by Rudolf Virchow (from 1854 to 1876) and Hugo Wilhelm von Ziemssen (from 1875 to 1885) as "Handbuch der speciellen Pathologie und Therapie". FROM REVIEW IN JAMA, January 1903, "This, the fourth, volume of the American edition of Nothnagel's Practice keeps up the reputation which the previous volumes of this excellent work have made. It contains exhaustive monographs on the bronchi and emphysema and atelectasis by Hoffmann of Leipsig; in inflammation of the lungs by Aufrecht of Magdeburg-Altstadt; and on diseases of the pleura by Rosenbach of Breslau. It is edited by Dr. John H. Musser of Philadelphia. These monographs in the original hold an enviable place in German medical literature, each one being exhaustive, complete and authoritative and written by men specially fitted for the work. But the American edition is not only a reproduction in English, it is all of this and more, for the American editor has added much of value not included in the original and he has brought every part thoroughly up to date." FROM REVIEW IN BOSTON MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL (NOW NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE), October 1905, "These volumes are already so well known to students of the various subjects discussed in the German edition that it is not necessary to enter into further details regarding their merits. The system as a whole stands pre-eminently as the best encyclopedic treatise on medicine now extant. The fact that each volume, these as well as others, has been written by a recognized authority on the subject treated, is a commendation and an assurance of excellence which requires no further statement from us. The difficult work of editing has been admirably done by Dr. Stengel and his co-editors. Were it not for the co-operation of the original German contributors to the system this work would have been practically impossible."