MARTIN Bernardin Dissertation sur les dents.

Krivatsy, 7490 (under Barthélémy Martin) ; David, p.190 ; Poletti, p.131 ; Weinberger, p.94 ;

First edition, very rare.

Bernardin’s main book, Dissertation sur les dents in 1679, is one of the first French texts on teeth. This book was published 50 years before Pierre Fauchard’s seminal work but almost 100 years after the first French book on Dentistry by Hemard (1582).

Bernardin’s work is a compilation of older sources on the subject. It appears that during his travels to Spain on a mission to collect a debt on behalf of the Prince of Condé, Bernardin came across a Castilian odonatological compendium by Francisco Martínez called Coloquio breve y compendioso, sobre la materia de la dentadura, y maravillosa obra de la boca (1557). Martinez, (1518 – 1588) was the author of the earliest Spanish dental work. B. Martin decided to freely use material from the book of Francisco Martinez without crediting it.

Dissertation sur les dents consists of 14 chapters dedicated to the nature of the teeth, children’s dentition, various deformities and their preservation. He writes about the primary dentition, the prevention of malposition, and treatment of dental trauma, subjects Martin also covered in his book (see : Weinberger Rare Book Collection, NYU, .Dentistry).

Very good copy.