PARISET, Étienne (1770–1847) & MAZET, André (1793–1821)

This book is of special interest due to the five hand-coloured lithographic plates depicting the facial manifestations of yellow fever in the same patient. The last plate is showing 8 images of the tongue, stretched out from the mouth with upper lip and a moustache. ”Accompanied by André Mazet, Pariset was the French government’s official representative in Spain to observe the yellow fever outbreak of 1819. Influential in political and journalistic circles, Pariset had no prior experience with yellow fever, nor much of a reputation as a clinician or researcher. The government, however, was predisposed to regard yellow fever as contagious, and sought an investigator whose views conformed to official opinion and whose familiarity with adminstrative mechanisms would facilitate the establishment of sanitary measures needed to prevent the introduction of yellow fever into France. The observations in this report, therefore, were almost a foregone conclusion and contributed little to the understanding of yellow fever ” (Hoolihan).

Collation: Pp (6), vi, 144. Printed on thick paper. With 5 hand-coloured plates (lithographed by C. de Lasteyrie).

Binding: Contemporary dark blue half morocco, black and green marbled boards, marbled endpapers.

Provenance: Small ownership stamp on title: Dr. A. Launay, Havre.

References: Hoolihan, Miner Yellow Fever Collection (1990), No. 301.