[MIDWIFERY]

[PETIT, ANTOINE]. Extrait des Lecons de Monsieur Petit [i.e. Antoine Petit] Docteur Régent à la Faculté de médecine de Paris &c &c &c Commencés le 20 Mai 1765 Par J. M^ccK [i.e. John McKeogh] bound with Remarks taken from the Lessons of Mr. Young Professor of Midwifery at Edinburgh Scotland by John McKeogh; and Catalogus Plantarum Aut. J.B. McK L.P. Manuscript in ink on paper, written in a fine legible cursive hand, the first presumably Paris: 1765; the others roughly coeval. Full French catspaw calf accented in purple, ruled in gilt, the spine labeled "Lecons sur Laccouch I. M^ccK" and decorated in gilt, all edges marbled. 9 x 6 7/8 inches (22.75 x 17.75 cm); 263, [7] pp.; [23, 3] pp.; [4] pp., the balance of the book blank or with uncompleted tables. Light wear, still a most attractive example; Offered with a second manuscript Extrait des Lecons de Mr. Ferrein sure la matière medicale. Manuscript in ink on paper. Paris: 1760s. Full French marbled calf, labels reading "Matière Medicale" and "M^ccK" on the spine, all edges marbled. 6 1/2 x 4 1/8 inches (16.75 x 11.75 cm); 615, [1], indices. Light wear.

The main work in the first compendium comprises a series of lectures on midwifery topics by Antoine Petit (1722-1794), among the most eminent French physicians of the period. John McKeogh, a young Irish physician or student, transcribed Petit's teachings in the present manuscript in 1765. Petit had founded chairs of Anatomy and Surgery at the University of Paris; he was a contributor to the Diderot and d'Alembert Encyclopédie in the area of medicine, and so any aspiring physician would naturally have gravitated to his classes. McKeogh appended a lecture he had attended at Edinburgh on the subject, as well as adding a table of medicinal plants. Petit's opus on widwifery, the Traité des maladies des femmes enceintes, des femmes en couche et des enfants nouveaux-nés, did not appear until 1798, four years after his death. The second manuscript bears MeKeogh's initials on the spine, and was presumably also prepared by him (or at least owned by him).