A Treatise on the Physiology and Diseases of the Eye: Containing A New Mode of Curing Cataract Without an Operation; Experiment and Observation on Vision, Also on the Infliction, Reflection and Colours of Light; Together With Remarks on the Preservation of Sight, and on Spectacles, Reading-Glasses, &c by CURTIS, John Harrison (1778-c.1860) - 1833

London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, Paternoster Row, 1833. First Edition. Quarter-Cloth. Near Fine+. First Edition of this "admixture of curious and non-sensical theory with sound scientific observation." (Becker) 8vo: [8],222, [6]pp, with hand-colored stipple frontispiece engraved by J. Neele after H. Stalker, half-title (bearing imprint on verso: J. Moyes, Castle Street, Leicester Square), and final advertisements. Old brown quarter cloth over contemporary (perhaps original) marbled boards, beige paper label printed in black on spine, edges uncut. Boards rubbed, paper label browned with small chip (not affecting lettering), end sheets and half-title moderately foxed, else a firmly bound, clean, bright copy with wide margins. Becker 89. BOA 1124N. Wellcome II, 421. Not in Garrison-Morton or Waller. John Harrison Curtis was a self-styled and ambitious aurist who offered exclusive medical treatment for deafness and ear diseases in his practice at a time when little was available elsewhere. Between 1816 and 1845, he published numerous treatises that argued against conventional perceptions of deafness as incurable and medical measures for ear diseases as nothing but desperate and useless. His first work, A Treatise on the Physiology and Diseases of the Ear, published in 1817, reached six editions in his lifetime and was translated into French and German. His Treatise on the Eye takes a similar tack, with the promise of cures to long standing difficulties. The book is particularly notable for the spectacular hand-colored frontispiece, "The connexion of the Organs of Sight and Hearing illustrated." N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).