Smellie, text and atlas on midwifery, 4 vol, 1762 - 1787

A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Midwifery. By W. Smellie, M.D. Vol. I. The Fourth Edition, Corrected. London: Printed for D. Wilson, near Round Court; and T. Durham, near Norfolk Street; both in the Strand. MDCCLXII. 
WITH: 
A Collection of Cases and Observations in Midwifery. By William Smellie, M.D. To Illustrated His former Treatise, or First volume, on that Subject. Vol II. The Third Edition. London: Printed for D. Wilson, at Plato’s Head, and T. Durham, at the Golden Ball, in the Strand. MDCCLXIV. 
WITH: 
A Collection of Preternatural Cases and Observations in Midwifery. By William Smellie, M.D. Compleating the design of illustrating his First Volume, on that Subject. Vol III. London: Printed for D. Wilson, and T. Durham, in the Strand. MDCCLXIV. 
 
Three octavo volumes bound in matching full brown 18th century leather bindings ruled in gold, with raised bands and red title labels on spines. Compartments stamped in gold, now mostly worn away. Leather variably scuffed. Losses at heads and tails of spines. Fragment of 18th or 19th century paper label at top of vol ii spine. Red speckled page edges. Some hinges cracking. Some cracks to joints at heads and feet of spine, front joint of vol 2 cracked along length, but overall boards remain secure. Prior dealer’s penciled annotations on front pastedown of vol I. Approximately 3 inch lacuna at bottom corner of T3 in vol I, with loss of just the last word and catchword on recto and verso. Minimal foxing. Mostly bright. Bindings tight. 
 
Vol I: Ffep, title, xiv, 448, rfep. 
Vol II: Ffep, title – vii (6) 512 (10) rfep. 
Vol III: Ffep, title – viii, 544 (8) rfep. 
 
WITH:
 
Smellie, Anatomical Tables, "new edition”, 1787 
Anatomical Tables, with Explanations, and an Abridgement of the Practice of Midwifery, with a view to illustrate a Treatise on that Subject, and Collection of Cases. By William Smellie, M.D. A New Edition, Carefully Corrected and Revised, with Notes and Illustrations, Adapted to the present Improved Method of Practice. By A. Hamilton, M.D. F.R.S. Edin. And Professor of Midwifery in the University of Edinburgh. Edinburgh: Printed for William Creech. M, DCC, LXXXVII (1787). 
 
Atlas folio in modern brown quarter leather with red title label and marbled paper over boards. Gold bands on spine have tarnished. New end papers. Marginal paper repairs to title. Repaired tears to plate 2, involving image. Plate 23 with corner damp stain and marginal paper repairs. Finger smudges at top margin of plate 27. Dark stain at top corner (with paper repairs) of plate 40. Variable damp stain and toning along lower margin, encroaching on some images. Plate 4 (which is normal vulvar anatomy, rather than obstetrics per se) supplied in facsimile, low resolution poorly printed, but on good quality paper. Some tattering of edges. Printed on larger paper than the first edition of 1754 (which had 39 plates).
 
New ffep, title, preface, 40 plates (1 in facsimile) with corresponding textual explanations, new rfep. 
 
For the first edition (we offer here what I believe is the second folio edition) see:
 
Heirs 826: “Only two years after his famed treatise of midwifery appeared, Smellie published this set of plates, which is very rare and is said to have been issued in only 100 copies. The life-size plates are distinguished for their accuracy.”  
6154.1: “The celebrated atlas for [his textbook], which is a complete work in itself. The 39 superb engravings include 26 after drawings by Jan van Rymsdyk, which are preserved in the Hunterian Collection at the University of Glasgow Library. The remainder were by Smellie, “assisted by a pupil called [Pieter] Camper”. Camper’s drawings are preserved in the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, and in Leiden University.”  
 
See also Heirs 825: William Smellie( 1697 – 1763) “The greatest figure in English obstetrics was William Smellie, who, after twenty years of village practice, came to London to devote himself to the teaching and practice of obstetrics. To him are owed the first attempts to measure the fetal cranium in utero, and also important studies on the mechanism of delivery (Arturo Castiglioni, A history of medicine. New York, 1946. pp. 629-630). Smellie introduced three new types of forceps and outlined safe rules for their use. It was he who separated obstetrics from surgery, and imparted to obstetrics the stamp of science.”  
 
See also G-M 6154: “Smellie contributed more to the fundamentals of obstetrics than virtually any individual. In his Treatise he described more accurately than any previous writer the mechanism of parturition, stressing the importance of exact measurement of the pelvis. He was the first to lay down safe rules regarding the use of forceps, and personally introduced the steel-lock, the curved, and the double forceps. He invented the “Smellie maneuver” to deliver breech cases.”