Surgical Papers by William Stewart Halsted in Two Volumes

Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press. Very Good+. 1924. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. xliii, 586; vii, 602 pages; This first edition of the Surgical Papers of Dr, Halstead is in very nice condition with almost no signs of wear; contents clean and unmarked; pages untrimmed; green cloth bindings secure and corners only very slightly rubbed; gilt lettering still bright. A nearly fine set. Although there was a later limited edition of the work issued in 1985 [sometimes distinguishable by the inclusion of a date span in the title "1852-1922"], this original edition is quite scarce indeed. Editor's Note by Walter C. Birkett and "An Appreciation" of the surgeon by Rudolph Matas. William Stewart Halsted, M.D. (1852 – 1922) was an American surgeon who emphasized strict aseptic technique during surgical procedures, was an early champion of newly discovered anaesthetics, and introduced several new operations, including the radical mastectomy for breast cancer. Along with William Osler (Professor of Medicine), Howard Atwood Kelly (Professor of Gynecology) and William H. Welch (Professor of Pathology), Halsted was one of the "Big Four" founding professors at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. His operating room at Johns Hopkins Hospital is in Ward G, and was described as a small room where medical discoveries and miracles took place. Halsted was credited with starting the first formal surgical residency training program in the United States at Johns Hopkins. He based this mainly on the ideas that he obtained in Europe, especially those of the Germans, Austrians, and Swiss. His methods of training surgeons spread, first to the rest of Baltimore and then throughout the United States. Many prominent figures in medical surgery were affected and influenced by his new system of training, and it has had a profound impact on American medicine. Halsted created multiple techniques for surgery so damage to tissues and blood supply would be minimized. .