Surgical Procedure, Amputations & Surgical Equipment - A Set of 17 Engravings, Probably by Benjamin Martin c.1760

A superb series of 17 copper-plate engravings showing various surgical procedures and equipment, together with the original 18 loose printed pages which provide a detailed description of each plate. 

No publisher or date noted, however I believe they are work of Benjamin Martin (1704-82), a prolific lexicographer and scientific instrument maker of the mid-18th Century. Each lettered between A and R., Martin rarely put his imprint on plates which he produced for his various dictionaries. In the Wellcome collection, three of the plates here (C, Q & R, the last two being the amputation scenes) can be seen as being published by Samuel Mihles in his “The Elements of Surgery”, but with the difference that Mihles used a Roman numeral numbering system and the plates here use a lettering system. The Wellcome Collection have the 1764 2nd edition, so if they are by Martin, which was published first? 

Two of the plates show amputations (arm and leg), skull surgery including trepanning and skull depressions in infants, female mastectomy, and various surgical instruments and equipment popularly used in the mid-18th Century.

Various sizes between 137x206mm. to 330x206mm., various folds (the larger plates were originally folding plates within a larger volume), occasional grime and one (Plate B) with a heavy vertical crease with some loss and soiling. A lovely series.