La Litotomia delle donne perfezionata

Faenza, Presso l'Archi, 1763. Hardcover. Very Good. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. 4to (20 x 13 cm), 88 pp., [2] ff., 2 folding engraved plates at end, 4 engraved plates in text (of calculi, facing pp. 42, 54, 58 and 68), title page printed in red & black. Bound in stiff vellum with raised bands, spine label missing, covers somewhat soiled. Three old ownership stamps in margin of title, ownership tag on pastedown; overall a clean, fresh copy. Scarce second edition, second issue of a work on extracting stones from the female bladder: Masotti's work is considered a precursor to laparoscopy. He comments on the methods and instruments of earlier lithotomists, describes four procedures he performed, and describes, with 2 illustrations, an instrument he designed to remove stones without surgery: "Masotti fitted his forceps with a blade which could be projected as far as the size of the stone warranted" (Murphy). The drainage canals of Masotti's instrument overcame a problem common in lithotomy, the clogging of the trocar (the instrument used for draining the bladder). The text is expanded from Masotti's Lettera sopra gl'instromenti necessari per la litotomia nelle donne, Florence, 1756. An extra leaf following p. 82 reprints the minutes of the Royal Academy in Paris of November 15, 1764 (describing Masotti's instrument as "tres-bien imaginé"): this issue therefore probably dates to late 1764. The dedication leaf (p. 3) reads "Accademie di Boven" (corrected in a later issue to "Rouen") and "Inspettor Generale" (in an earlier issue, "Generale"). The first folding plate is signed by Gio. Batta. Iacopucci as artist and Car. Gregori as engraver, the other plates by Joseph Menabuoni as artist and Joseph Ballanti as engraver. Masotti (1698-1779) was professor of surgery and lithotomy at the Royal Hospital of Sta. Maria Nuova in Florence. * Murphy, History of Urology p. 14; Hirsch IV, 111; Blake p. 291; Benjamin 434; Kiefer 395; Wellcom IV, 75; De Renzi, Storia della Medicina Italiana V, 862.