Surgical Bandages and Compress, Diderot Chirurgie Plate XVIII, circa 1772

An original antique copper engraving, uncolored, from the Chirurgie plates of the Encyclopédie, showing dressings drawn large on a plain ground. Fig. 1 is a turned, knob shaped handle set on a short stem into two stacked, slightly curved plates or pads. Fig. 2 is a long flat linen band running across the top of the plate and down the left side, with a stitched buttonhole slit near one end and short lines of stitching across it. Fig. 3 is a broad bandage partly rolled, with two padded folds laid along it and its free tail falling in loose curves. Fig. 4 is a small oblong folded compress.

The plate number is lettered "Pl. XVIII." at the top right, the section "Chirurgie." is lettered below the border, and the page number "81." stands at the lower left. No engraver's mark is lettered at the lower right. The figures are numbered Fig. 1 to Fig. 4.

The Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert came with volumes of engraved plates, the Recueil de planches, and this sheet comes from the Chirurgie section of the Livorno edition published by Giuseppe Aubert, whose plate volumes appeared between 1771 and 1778. In this section the instruments, bandages and apparatus of surgery are set out and operations are shown, with numbered figures keyed to an explanation printed in the text volume.

The bold, simple forms of the bandages read clearly from a distance. The plate mark is visible around the image.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.