The Viavi Gynecological Plates Designed to Educate Mothers and Daughters Concerning Diseases of the Uterine Organs [with] The Viavi Plate Book Description.

San Francisco: The "Viavi" Co., 1891 & 1898. The very elusive first edition of the first title and OCLC records no editions of the second. Octavo. 24 [i.e. 26] pp. and VIII chromolithograph plates (actually one pate is just tinted) of the female reproductive system. Publisher's full burgundy calf with very large and ornate gilt lettering on the front, gilt turn-ins, printed green endpapers, all edges gilt. The spine is hanging in there but will be in need of rescue soon. The second title is also a small octavo, 32 pp. and printed on green tinted paper. Publisher's wrappers with their monogram in blue in the middle, blue titling. Old and faint crease but very fresh. Dr Hartland Law and his brother Herbert Edward Law, FCS were two of the most prominent and wealthy citizens of San Francisco by the early 1900s. They were the largest dealers in real estate in the city. For a time they had been the owners of the Fairmount Hotel, rebuilding after the great earthquake of 1906 at a cost of 2 million dollars before reselling it. Hartland was at one time the director of the city's YMCA, and Herbert was a Fellow of the Chemists' Society of London, England. In 1880 Horace was listed in the census as "Lern Engenier" and Herbert was a railroad clerk like his father. But there were bigger things in store for the Law brothers, and they found them - after several years of selling book subscriptions - in San Francisco, where in 1886 they founded the Viavi Company. Curiously, Hartland did not become a physician until 1893, when he graduated from Hahnemann Medical College in San Francisco, named for the founder of homeopathy, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann. By this time they had established an entire line of Viavi medicines which they were selling with great success. These medicines were on the main quackery but they were one of the largest homeopathic advocates of their time. RBH has no records of a first edition having been sold.Comeswith a 1928 edition (first published in 1899) of their basic text; Viavi Hygiene. Octavo. 398 pp. Publisher's terra cotta cloth and in a nice dust jacket. After the San Francisco Earthquake the company the company expanded rapidly. The American Medical Association complained for decades about Viavi patients dying from lack of treatment, while the company continued to flourish. The Law brothers lived to ripe old ages and died as multimillionaires.