First edition, very rare.

“No other individual in the history of dentistry played a more important role in its development than Fauchard… Publication of the present work in 1728 was immediately hailed as a major development in the dental profession because it incorporated the entire doctrine of theoretical and practical dentistry as it was then known and practiced” (Heirs).

“Pierre Fauchard has been called the “father of dentistry”; his comprehensive and scientific account of all that concern dentistry in the 18th century is one of the greatest books in the history of the subject” (Garrison-Morton).

“[This work] inspired an immediate increase in the number of important books by dental practitioners” (Norman).

“Fauchard summarized in his pages with numerous illustrations all that was best in the practice of his day and disclosed what has been hitherto  jealously guarded secrets. Le Chirugien Dentiste – The Surgeon Dentist, or a Treatise on the Teeth, with instruction on the means of maintaining them Sound and Healthy – is in fact the first scientific work on its subject, and modern dentistry begins with its publication. Fauchard describes in the fullest detail the procedure in operative dentistry, in the filling of teeth and most especially in prothesis, which is that part of dental surgery concerned with artificial dentures, bridge work and the like… He used antiseptic methods in filling teeth long before the germ theory of infection… Fauchard was the true pioneer of dental surgery” (PMM).

“Son livre le place définitivement parmi les ‘grands’ de la médecine et de la chirurgie parisienne… Son livre est en effet un livre pionnier de première importance. Il fait de lui le père fondateur de al dentisterie moderne, car c’est le premier ouvrage touchant une ‘branche de l’art de guérir’  laissée aux charlatants ou à des empiriques qui exerçaient dans de lamentables conditions. Tour à tour anatomiste, pathologiste, thérapeute et hygiéniste, Fauchard donne, avec les connaissances de son époque, le tableau complet d’une spécialité que nous appelons aujourd’hui l’odontostomatologie” (Marie-José Imbault-Hurat, in: En français dans le texte).

Complete copy, with author’s portrait engraved by Scotin after Le Bel and the 40 plates depicting instruments and prosthetics.

Light waterstain to outer margin of both volumes, one fly-leaf partly restored, and one  replaced. A good copy of the rare book.

Provenance: several old signatures on endpapers including Jean Feletin (signature on the title of volume II) and Dusieur (signature on the fly-leaf) .