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Inventum novum ex percussione thoracis humani ut signo abstrusos inerni pectoris morbos detegendi.

Vienna: typis Joannis Thomae Trattner, 1761.

Collation: 8vo: A–F⁸, 48 leaves, pp. [11] 12–95 [1], errata on last page, p. 54 misnumbered 45. Woodcut device on title, woodcut and typographic headpieces and initials.
Condition: 197 x 110 x 7mm. Light paper discolouration. In a cloth folding case.
Binding: Contemporary Austrian polished calf, decorative borders made up of separate tools, 6 raised bands on spine, richly gilt on bands and in all compartments with no lettering, pastepaper endleaves, gilt edges. Small chip in headcap.
Provenance: Early signature Dr Gebhard [undeciphered] on title and a shelf mark or price code on the free endleaf.
References: Bishop 2; Garrison–Morton 2672; Wellcome II, p. 70; Blake p. 23; Grolier 100 Medicine 45; Lilly p. 127; Heirs of Hippocrates 954.
Price: £9,000

First edition,  ‘second issue’ with errata printed on the last page, probably a variant state of the last sheet rather than a distinct issue (in the ‘first issue’ the last page is blank); printed on  fine and thick paper watermarked T. Villeary with chain lines at 26mm and the text-block is 7mm thick. In the other copies I have examined (all of the issue without errata, which seems to be much more common) the paper is of poor quality, possibly of several paper stocks but all unwatermarked, and the text block is 5mm thick. Descriptions of copies of the issue with errata suggest they are also on poor quality paper; no other thick paper copies are recorded.

¶ A fine copy on thick paper, probably bound for presentation, of one of the great medical classics. In this book Auenbrugger introduced percussion of the chest for diagnosing diseases of the heart and lungs. This was the first advance in diagnosis since the time of Hippocrates and the first of the modern diagnostic tools, to be followed by the stethoscope, X-rays and CT scanning.

The son of an innkeeper, Auenbrugger learned as a boy how to gauge the fullness of a barrel of wine by tapping it. Applying the same technique to the human chest he found that he could diagnose diseases of the heart and lungs. He verified his findings by post-mortem dissections and performed further experiments on cadavers, only after seven years of research publishing this small book.

The work was probably issued in only a small edition and is traditionally regarded as one of the rarest of the medical classics. Only three copies are recorded at auction (in ABPC) in the last 30 years, none as fine as this one; on the other hand generations of collectors have ensured that such a famous book is found in most, but by no means all, the major libraries with important medical collections.

<<This small book is one of the greatest of all medical classics and contains the results of Auenbrugger’s experience with a new method of physical diagnosis – thoracic percussion... one of the milestones in the history of medicine.

>>_Heirs of Hippocrates_.

<<With the introduction of percussion of the chest, which offered a new and dependable method of diagnosing diseases of the heart and lungs in living persons, Leopold Auenbrugger made the first advance in physical diagnosis since the age of Hippocrates.

>>Grolier 100, Medicine.

Literature: P. James Bishop, ‘A bibliography of Auenbrugger’s ‘Inventum novum’ (1761)’, Tubercle 42 (1961) 75–90; Willius & Keys, pp. 190–213.