NIGHTINGALE, Florence (1820-1910). Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not, London, [1860], 8vo, table, original dark grey pebbled cloth gilt. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. RARE.

NIGHTINGALE, Florence (1820-1910).  Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not. London: Harrison, [1860]. 8vo (218 x 140mm). Table (some very light spotting and staining, a few darker spots). Original dark grey pebbled cloth lettered in gilt with borders blocked in blind, advertisements printed on yellow paper on front and rear pastedowns and endpapers, the first advertisement dated 1860 (inconspicuous splitting at joints). Provenance: From the Collection of Professor Jonathan Brostoff, D.M., D.Sc., FRCP, FRCPath (1934-2020); "Belper" (old signature on front free endpaper [i.e. advertisement]). "Belper" is possibly Edward Strutt (1801-80), known from 1856 as Baron Belper, who, from 1830-48, was liberal MP for Derby, near where Florence spent part of her childhood at their family home Lea Hurst. Belper served as a minister at the time of the Crimean War and was known to have mixed socially with Florence Nightingale and her family. FIRST EDITION of "one of the seminal books of the modern world" (Lilly), FIRST ISSUE, without "[The right of translation is reserved.]" at the foot of the title. Bishop & Goldie 4(i); Garrison & Morton 1612: "After receiving training in Germany and France, Florence Nightingale had some nursing experience in England. The Crimean war gave her an opportunity to demonstrate the value of trained nurses. Within a few months of her arrival at Scutari, the mortality rate among soldiers there fell from 42% to 2%. Florence Nightingale lived to become the greatest figure in the history of nursing"; Grolier Medicine 71; Heirs of Hippocrates 1884; Lilly p.215; Norman 1600; Osler 7737; Waller 6872. RARE.