A very nice, pocket-sized sammelband containing six medical works dating from the turn of the nineteenth century, of which three are the official pharmacopoeias published by the Royal College of Physicians and Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospitals, and one an overview of the contents of the London and Edinburgh pharmacopoeias by an Irish physician. It is likely the the original compiler or an early owner had medical knowledge, as they have written an informed note on the front free endpaper pointing out that, 'Dr. Clarke has followed Cullen chiefly with some additions; he has also extracted from Webster's Thesarus'.

Pharmacopoeias (lists of medical substances and their uses) had long been a popular genre, but they gained importance during the 17th century as medicine was increasingly professionalised and official publications could be used to centralise power within the physicians' societies and larger hospitals. For instance, the Royal College of Physicians' Pharmacopoeia Londinensis (text number two in this compilation), backed by a proclamation of King James, was 'an officially sanctioned list of all known medical drugs, their effects and directions on their use. No one was allowed to concoct any medicine or sell any substance if it did not appear in the Pharmacopoeia Londinensis'. Pharmacopoeias also proved popular with the educated general public, especially in English translations that began appearing around the middle of the century.

Aside from the official pharmacopoeias, text number one, by the London doctor Edward Goodman Clarke (d. 1811), is a list of diseases, their symptoms, and cures that was described by a contemporary as 'a very pretty view of the practice of medicine in excellent Latin' (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). Text number three, a pocket compendium of the London and Edinburgh pharmacopeias in English, was edited by the prominent Irish physician Robert James Graves (1796-1853), who 'brought international renown' to the Meath Hospital in Dublin (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). The final text, the work of an unknown author, describes in English the method of using mercury to treat venereal disease by 'raising a salivation' over the course of several weeks.

12mo (13 x 7.5 cm); contemporary manuscript notes on the front endpaper and verso of the title to the first text, rust marks and associated paper loss affecting early and late leaves, primarily blanks and endpapers; contemporary calf, double gilt fillets to spine panels, lacking the metal clasps, calf rubbed, headband slightly loose, very good condition.