PHARMACOPOEIA RADCLIFFEANA

1716. RADCLIFFE, John. PHARMACOPOEIA RADCLIFFEANA; or Dr. Radcliff's prescriptions, faithfully gather'd from his Original Recipe's. To which are annex'd, Useful Observations upon each Prescription. [By Edward Strother.] London: Printed for Charles Rivington ..., 1716. First edition. 12mo. xii, 166, [2] pp. The final leaf is a publisher's advertisement. Bookblock sound; however, the upper board is detached and the lower board is missing. Ex library, ink stamp on title-page and p. 50. Text pages are age toned, some with light to moderate foxing. A popular work, a second edition with a portrait was issued the same year as the first (which was issued without a portrait), as was a second part entitled "Pharmacopoeiae Radcliffeanae pars altera." A complete copy of the first edition of the first part that needs rebinding and is offered as is. John Radcliffe (1650-1714) was a successful, Oxford-educated, English physician. He established a large practice at London that was as much a result of his witty conversation as his clinical skill and accurate prognoses, though sometimes his wit seems to have verged on rudeness, especially to his social superiors, and his prognoses were blunt. He became chief physician to the Princess Anne in 1686, after which he was employed professionally by William III, whom he eventually offended. At his death he bequeathed money in trust to Oxford University to build and maintain a library, which was completed in 1747 and still bears his name, and other large sums for charitable use. (Wellcome IV, p. 462; D.N.B.).