NIGHTINGALE, Florence (1820-1910)

First edition, third issue, with "The right of Translation is reserved" within square brackets below the imprint, and with rear endpapers advertising The Foreign Office List of 1860. Notes on Nursing is one of the great books of the modern world and a true medical classic. It is written with simplicity and direct common sense. It sold over one hundred thousand copies, a remarkable feat at the time for a book of this kind. A Swedish edition, Anmärkningar om sjukas vård och skötsel, appeared in 1861. Florence Nightingale, “the greatest figure in the history of nursing,” was born in Florence, Italy (hence her given name). She was brought up in luxury and refinement by her wealthy English parents. Her education was most advanced for a girl of her time. She spoke several languages and wrote well. After study at the Institute of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserwerth in Germany, where she took the regular training courses of nurses, she became superintendent of the Hospital for Invalid Gentlewomen in London in 1853. In 1854 England was profoundly stirred up by the reports of the suffering of sick and wounded in the British Army during the Crimean War. Miss Nightingale set out with a staff of 38 nurses and took charge of the huge unsanitary barrack hospitals at Scutari. Miss Nightingale’s achievements in the Crimea made her a national heroine.

Collation: Pp 79, (1). Advertisement printed on the yellow coated end papers.

Binding: Publisher’s limp black bead-grain cloth, blind stamped borders, gilt lettering on front cover.

Provenance: Signature on title: "H. A. Abelin". Hjalmar August Abelin (1817-1893), professor of pediatrics at Karolinska Institutet.

References: Garrison-Morton 1612; Grolier, One Hundred Books Famous in Medicine 71; Bishop & Goldie, A Bio-Bibliography of Florence Nightingale (1962), 15; Major, 867-869; Lilly, Notable Medical Books, 215; Heirs of Hippocrates (3rd ed.), 1884; Osler, 7737; Singer & Underwood (1962), 701-710; Haskell, Norman Library, 1602, Hagelin, Rare and Important Medical Books, KIB, 176-177.Christie’s Norman Sale 1218. Waller 6872 (with erroneous date of 1858)