An Essay on the Structure and Functions of the Skin
Edinburgh: MacLachlan & Stewart; Baldwin & Cradock, London; and P. Silvester, Newport, 1832.
William Wood's An Essay on the Structure and Functions of the Skin is a scarce early nineteenth-century treatise that takes a notably broader physiological view of the skin than many of its contemporaries, examining not merely cutaneous disease in isolation but the skin's function as a mediating organ between the external atmosphere and the internal viscera. Published in 1832, the essay argues for the skin's role in the production of affections of the lungs, liver, stomach, and bowels through the agency of atmospheric changes acting through the skin — an interesting mid-point in the evolving understanding of dermatology's relationship to systemic and internal medicine, predating the fuller separation of dermatology as a discrete specialty later in the century.
What makes this particular copy especially noteworthy, however, is its institutional and collector provenance: the rear paste-down bears the bookplate of the "Library of Louis A. Duhring," together with a University of Pennsylvania library withdrawal stamp and old shelf/call numbers ("612.79 / W853"). Louis A. Duhring (1845–1913) was one of the founding figures of American dermatology, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the standard American dermatology textbook of his era — his personal working library, later absorbed into and subsequently deaccessioned from the University of Pennsylvania's collections, is of real interest to specialist collectors of dermatological history, as this volume would have been part of Duhring's own research library.
Condition & Binding: This copy is bound in later plain paper-covered boards with a cloth spine, evidently a period or institutional rebinding (library-style) rather than the original publisher's binding, with a hand-lettered paper spine label reading "Essay on the Skin. — Wood" and an old library shelf-mark label near the foot of the spine. The condition is well-worn: the boards are heavily rubbed, stained, and scuffed with soft, bumped corners, and the spine covering shows wear and a split/opening at the head. Internally, the text block is generally sound, with age-toning and light-to-moderate foxing throughout, and the front hinge shows some reinforcement/repair with older cloth tape, consistent with a working library copy that saw genuine use over many decades. Overall- good. Item #930
Price: $150.00