This is an unrecorded first issue of Edward Jenner’s first publication. Jenner was dissatisfied with the preparations of some medicines in common use and made experiments, in particular to obtain a preparation of emetic tartar which would be ‘regular in strength and uniform in operation’. The pamphlet must have been printed in the autumn of 1783, since John Hunter, the surgeon under whom Jenner had trained, acknowledged it in November.
Jenner described his method of obtaining pure emetic tartar crystals, and this paper, with his letter of 5 February, was read to the Society on 4 June 1784, though it was not published until 1793. Jenner also experimented from about 1790 with the application of emetic tartar ointment as a counterirritant, publishing an account of his results in 1822.
This pamphlet is not noted in LeFanu’s Bibliography of Edward Jenner, nor are any copies held by libraries worldwide. A comparison with the Cursory Observations on Emetic Tartar, previously thought to be the first edition (LeFanu, 3), reveals that many corrections and additional text have been added. On comparing the two issues it is clear from the type setting that both were printed by J. Bence of Wotton-under-Edge. It is therefore of the greatest rarity; of the Cursory issue, ESTC and Copac locate just three copies (British Library, John Rylands & U. S. National Library of Medicine).
The book will enter the museum collection with a view to its being displayed as part of an intended forthcoming study focussing on Edward Jenner's publications.