La Religion du Medecin, c'est a Dire

Thomas Browne; Nicaise Le Fevre; Blaeu, Joan

Imprimee l'an: (Amsterdam: J. Blaeu), 1668

Bound in contemporary mottled calf.  12mo. Crack at joint.  Contemporary signature on title page.  [22], 360 pages.  Additional engraved title.  First Edition in French.  Translation by Nicaise Le Fevre; Amsterdam by Joan Blaeu. Reference from A. Willems, Les Elzevier, Bruxelles, G.-A. Van Trigt, 1880, p. 481, n. 1784.  Keynes 71. 

"It is not the matter only which makes the Religio Medici still so universally read. The combination of detachment from the world with fascination with its smallest physical objects, the style, and the mind which both style and contents reveal, has absorbed the interest of readers of all kinds ever since its first appearance." - Printing and the Mind of Man, 131 (citing 1st ed.)   Provenance: Book plate of noted American surgeon, Lewis Stephen Pilcher (1845–1934).  Pilcher was the youngest graduate of University of Michigan (age 17) he joined the Union army in 1863 as a hospital steward.  He later served in the US Navy as an assistant surgeon on the frigate Saratoga.  Pilcher later founded the Annals of Surgery, the first surgical journal in the English language, and served as editor for 50 years.  Pilcher was a noted bibliophile and a catalog of his extensive medical book collection was published in 1918, "A List of Books by Some of the Old Masters of Medicine and Surgery: Together with Books on the History of Medicine and on Medical Biography in the Possession of Lewis Stephen Pilcher."  This book is listed in Pilcher's catalog on page 76.   He states this book is "A good copy of the French translation of Sir Thomas Browne's famous essay."  LEWIS STEPHEN PILCHER—A BIOGRAPHICAL PICTURE OF A MASTER OF MEDICAL LITERATURE James Peter Warbasse Ann Surg. 1934 Jan; 99(1): 1–4.