Mutter, On Loxarthrus, or Club Foot, 1839

A Lecture on Loxarthrus, Or Club Foot. By Thomas D. Mutter, M. D. Lecturer on surgery, fellow of the college of physicians, member of the academy of natural sciences of Philadelphia, honorary member of the medical society of Philadelphia, &c. &c. Philadelphia: Hooker and Claxton. 1839Slim octavo in 19th century brown floral patterned and textured cloth (likely original) professionally rebacked with brown cloth spine and paper title label. Binding tight. Margins ample. Two blanks at front and rear. A highly readable copy. Copiously illustrated with images of anatomy, pathology, surgical devices and procedures. Frequent marginal annotations and underlining in pencil, done in an early hand, by a studious physician or surgeon who questions Mutter’s statements and occasionally corrects the text. (Unfortunately, no owner’s name is written inside). Scattered brown and black staining (likely ink) on front and rear boards. Rather heavily foxed throughout. Measures approximately 9 7/8 x 6 x 5/8 inches. Thomas Dent Mutter (1811 – 1859) donated a massive collection of medical specimens to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia with stipulations for a curator and building to be established and maintained. The original building for the now-famous Mutter Museum was finished in 1863. It still draws visitors from around the world to this day. The first full description of the morbid anatomy of clubfoot is credited to Italian anatomist and surgeon Antonio Scarpa in 1803 (Schmidt, Medical Discoveries, 1959). Mutter’s work is an early and important treatise on the subject from a notable American physician and surgeon. This copy was closely studied, as demonstrated by the highly-informed annotations. Not in Garrison-Morton.