PORTAL, Paulus. - De practyk der vroed'meesters, en vroed'vrouwen, of de wyse van een vrouw' te helpen in haar kinderbaren. Uyt de Franse in de Nederduytse tale overgeset.Amsterdam, Timotheus ten Hoorn. 1690. 8vo. With an engraved portrait of the author facing the title page and 8 full-page engraved plates of embryos and a placenta. Contemporary vellum, purple library stamp on the front board.

[1 blank], [23], 342, [7], [1 blank] pp.First and only Dutch edition of an important treatise on obstetrics, which discusses several ways an obstetrician could help a mother during labour. It was written in French (first French edition 1685) by Paul Portal (1630-1703), a renowned obstetrician in Paris, and translated into Dutch by Pieter Adriaansz, Gomer van Bortel and Pieter Guenellon, who are all also physicians and obstetricians. Portal sketches these quite theoretical knowledge in an anecdotical manner, because he also tells some stories from his own experience, such as women who died during pregnancy or stories from miscarriages and how he handled them. These practical examples must reinforce his statements, just like the two approbations at the end of the preface, one from the school of medicine in Paris and one from the “sworn surgeons” in Paris. This reflects the fact that Portal’s obstetrics handbook met the needs of both theoretists and practicioners concerning obstetrical problems that were very common in those days.With the same purple library stamp as on the front board on the back of the author's portrait. Some stains on the vellum, somewhat dust soiled, one leaf (pp. 337-338) somewhat loose, plates margins trimmed (not affecting the images). Otherwise in good condition.l BMN I, p. 336; Krivatsy 9201; STCN (4 copies); Waller 7574; Wellcome IV, p. 420; cf. Garrison & Morton 6148 (French ed.).

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