Pott Percivall (1714 1788) Manuscript Commonplace Book Conta

Sale 2543 - Lot 337

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Pott, Percivall (1714-1788) Manuscript Commonplace Book Containing Notes on his Lectures on the Practice of Surgery. Quarto-format English-language manuscript on laid paper with lecture notes copied after Pott's death, dated 1799 on title, consisting of thirty-two numbered pages, the book subsequently used by several others through the 19th century, containing notes concerning current events, recipes, travel, plants, literary quotes, short original pieces, and more, with a self-referential essay in praise of album-keeping ("Let the album then be kept sacred as a sort of second heart..."); the book subsequently re-purposed as a scrapbook, with clippings pasted to many pages (sometimes over handwritten entries); a large quantity of pages in the middle of the book left blank; bound in 18th century half leather, marbled paper boards, worn, loss to covering materials, a few signatures loose, 8 x 6 1/2 in. Britain, late 18th-19th century.

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Additional Details

Percivall Pott was an early orthopedist whose name continues to grace a certain break of the ankle, a disease of the spine, and a puffy tumor. He also linked the high incidence of lung cancer and other health ailments in chimney sweeps to their profession. His work decrying aspects of the treatment of young sweeps and threats to their health caused by exposure to soot percipated legal protections for this vulnerable group.