Long-lost medical book discovered

Faculty of Advocates cataloguer Lindsay Levy identified the author

A rare 400-year-old medical book has been found beneath the floorboards of a lawyer's home in Edinburgh.

The illustrated English-language copy of the Ten Books of Surgery is one of only 22 in known existence.

The 17th century surgical work, written by Frenchman Ambrose Paré, may have been left beneath the floor of the loft during building work in the late 1950s.

The text, which was almost consigned to the bin, has been donated to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

The dirt-covered book came to light during conversion work on Advocate Michael Stuart's home.

It had lost many of its pages, including those detailing its title and author, but the Stuarts decided to have it examined by experts at the Faculty of Advocates library.

Detective work

The work was eventually identified by Lindsay Levy, the faculty's cataloguer of rare books.

She used costumes in the illustration and references to historical figures in the text to trace its author.

"I could see it was a medical text and I just had to work back from that," she said.

Paré developed a range of surgical techniques in the 16th Century

"I found the name of a French King and that led to Paré.

"This is definitely the toughest piece of detective work I've had to do since joining the faculty."

Born in 1510, Paré began his career in the unglamorous trade of a barbour-surgeon before developing into a pioneering battlefield medic.

He developed a range of new techniques for the treatment of gunshot wounds and amputations.

Paré also enlisted the help of armourers to develop prosthetic limbs, and he invented a range of surgical instruments.

Mr Stuart said: "It's an amazing book, richly detailed and illustrated.

"It's hard to imagine why it was left in the loft and why workmen would lay a floor on top of it."

The book will be put on public display at The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.