1852 INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Description of a Skeleton of the Mastodon Giganteus of North America by Warren, John Collins - 1852

Boston: John Wilson & Son, 1852. First edition.

1852 FIRST EDITION OF LARGE MONOGRAPH ON THE AMERICAN MASTODON BY PROMINENT BOSTON SURGEON, ILLUSTRATED BY FINE LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES, INSCRIBED PRESENTATION BY AUTHOR TO LIBRARY OF CONGRESS BY CONGRESSMAN PRESIDENT OF MGH.

13 inches tall folio hardcover, recent red cloth binding, gilt title to spine, inscribed front endpaper, "Presented by the Author to the Library of Congress by the hand of Hon. William Appleton, M.C." frontis lithograph (Plate I) of skeletons of 5 mastodons, engraved title page with chromolithograph vignette showing the site of exhumation of the mastodon skeleton on the Hudson River, dedication to Professor Richard Owen, viii, 219 pp, lithographed plates II-XXVI on heavy paper. Covers, binding in fine condition, book plate of State Historical Society of Wisconsin (with discard handstamp) to front paste-down, handstamp of State Historical Society of Wisconsin bottom of printed title page, handstamp verso title page, "Duplicate, exchanged from Library of Congress", text and plates with light browning to edges and unmarked. corner of page 49/50 missing (not affecting text). Present in facsimile is a large plate of the mastodon skeleton described on page 219, which is identical to the one shown in the center of the frontis.

JOHN COLLINS WARREN (1778 - 1856), of Boston, was one of the most renowned American surgeons of the 19th century. In 1846 he gave permission to William T.G. Morton to provide ether anesthesia while Warren performed a minor surgical procedure. News of this first public demonstration of surgical anesthesia quickly circulated around the world. He was a founder of the New England Journal of Medicine and was the third president of the American Medical Association. He was the first Dean of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1846 he acquired the famous Newburgh mastodon, the most perfectly preserved and complete skeleton extant. The mastodon was found on the Hudson River in 1845 and purchased by Dr. Warren for $10,000 after which he exhibited it in a small museum in Boston. His extensive study of these remains combined with comparative analysis of other mammoth, mastodon, and elephant remains resulted in the elaborately illustrated MASTODON GIGANTEUS OF NORTH AMERICA (offered here). The skeleton was eventually purchased in 1906 by JP Morgan for the American Museum of Natural History.

PROVENANCE: WILLIAM APPLETON (1786 – 1862) was an American businessman and politician from Massachusetts. He was a trader, shipowner, and banker, and served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from 1851 to 1855, and again from 1861 to 1862. He worked for a store that bought and sold goods from the West Indies, and went into business for himself in 1807. In 1809, he bought a ship, and made several profitable trading voyages to Europe. After the War of 1812, he expanded his shipping business and became one of the wealthiest men in Boston. He was noted for benevolence toward public causes: he was president of Massachusetts General Hospital, to which he donated $30,000, and made other large donations.