BUDD, William.

London: Longmans, Green, and Co.1873

Large 8vo, pp. xii, (ii), 193, (1), 1 leaf (adverts), hand-coloured lithographed frontispiece and 3 lithographed plates from photographs by Budd taken in about 1859; "Note" slip with errata on verso. Original green cloth (slightly rubbed and marked, inner hinges cracked), uncut. Faint library stamp on first few leaves and shelf mark on front pastedown with a note that it was received on 28th March 1874.

FIRST EDITION. G&M 5029, the first book to demonstrate the prevention of typhoid fever, and one of the great works in the literature of communicable diseases. “Budd insisted that typhoid fever was spread by contagion, and established the fact that infection from typhoid came from the dejecta of the patients” (G&M). He impressed on the medical profession and the public generally the paramount necessity of stringent modes of disinfection, the adoption of a full supply of pure water being of primary importance. This book was the culmination of his life’s work, presenting in a more complete form earlier contributions to various journals. He did the best English work of his time in infectious diseases (Garrison), and was described by Professor John Tyndall as a man of the highest genius whose contributions to medical literature were “priceless”, and by Newsholme (Fifty Years in Public Health) as “one of the great pioneers in preventive medicine”.

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