An extraordinary association copy linking two pillars of 18th-century medicine. This 1756 edition of Diederick Wessel Linden’s influential treatise on medicinal waters bears the personal bookplate of Dr. John Jones (1729–1791), along with his ownership signature on the front flyleaf. To our knowledge, no other signed or ownership-marked volume of Dr. Jones has appeared at auction in the last forty years, making this an exceptional rarity.
Linden’s work on the curative properties of mineral and medicinal waters was among the earliest medical texts printed in America, reflecting the period’s growing interest in therapeutic springs and preventive health. Its presence in Jones’s library underscores his wide intellectual engagement with contemporary medical thought.
Dr. John Jones himself stands as one of the most important figures in American medical history. A surgeon during the Revolutionary era, he co-founded the medical faculty at King’s College (later Columbia University) and authored Plain, Concise, Practical Remarks on the Treatment of Wounds and Fractures (1775), the first surgical manual written and published in the United States—intended for use by Continental Army surgeons.
The present volume is bound in [contemporary full calf / leather boards with gilt spine and raised bands — please confirm binding style from photos], and measures approximately [dimensions in inches]. With both his bookplate and signature preserved, this offering represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to acquire a tangible artifact of early American surgery and Revolutionary-era medical history.