£300
FIRST EDITION, 8vo, pp. [viii], 83, [1]. Final two blank leaves discarded. Early 20th-century half calf, marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt. Lightly toned and spotted. Extremities a little rubbed, front joint cracked at head. Stamp of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (dispersed between 2011 and 2015) to verso of title-page.
The official rebuttal of Reinier (or Regnier, or Regnerus) de Graaf (1641-1673) to accusations by Jan Swammerdam (1637-1680) that de Graaf had taken credit in his 1672 work 'De mulierum organis generationi inservientibus tractatus novus' for discoveries the other scientist had made earlier concerning the importance of the ovaries in reproduction. Though de Graaf's legacy was not tarnished - his name remains attached to the mature stage of the ovarian follicle - he was badly affected by this controversy and it likely contributed to his early death.
