HÔTEL-DIEU de LYON.

A Lyon: [no printer or publisher,] 1661

4to, 6 leaves, 116 pages. With a full-page engraving of Mary with the body of Jesus on a2, woodcut device on title, woodcut headpieces and initials. Contemporary limp vellum, some minor worming in the upper margin and pastedown endpapers, but a nice copy.

Second edition (see below) of the book which defines the duties of all those who worked at the Hôtel-Dieu in Lyon, the oldest and one of the most important hospitals in France. Drawn up by the rectors of the hospital, this book lists the responsibilities of the rectors in charge of various departments, and of all those who worked in them, both non-medical and medical, including the surgeon, the apothecary, the paediatrician, and the midwife. Several chapters are devoted to those with culinary duties. The Hôtel-Dieu was founded in 542, but became a fully functional hospital after 1454. It was the first French hospital to treat syphilitic patients in 1495. It was enlarged in the 17th century and rebuilt in the 18th as a magnificent edifice, which became the best hospital in France. It ceased to function as a hospital in 2010 and is now a hotel. The BnF lists only one earlier edition, in 1646.

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