Illustrative Electrocardiography

Oblong cloth 8vo, 292pp with 106 numbered plates. Very Good with rubbing/bumping to extremities and a small puncture at the spine, small tear at the bottom of (xiii-xiv). P.O. signature to front pastedown, else clean and unmarked. Originally published in 1935, this second edition was expanded to include advances in cardiography, especially in diagnosis coronary occlusion and other conditions. It specifically goes into "methods of application and interpretation of precordial leads" and includes reports from the American Heart Association. Using recordings chosen from patients at Morrisania City Hospital in the Bronx, the comprehensively illustrated book "takes both the beginner and the specialist through the latest and completest survey of the entire field of electrocardiography" (preface). 

A review of the book in JAMA took issue with the complexity of the illustrations while also taking great pains to criticize over 20 of the examples, either in how the plates were labeled or how they were interpreted in the text. "The method of presenting the electrocardio-grams is commendable, and it is regrettable that a large number of errors nullify its usefulness" (Sept 21, 1940; p.1045-1046).

A third edition was published in 1948 in a vertical format with a new co-author, Nathan Bloom. It retained only 2 of the illustrations used in this 1940 edition, and was still unfavorably reviewed in JAMA, which noted despite changing "the clumsy size of the preceding edition," it was barely useful, even for a medical student. "The best that can be said for this book is that the beginner may enjoy looking at some of the typical illustrations" (July 17, 1948, p1094)—which is where it stands now, a beautiful graphic object and thoughtfully composed effort of medical textbook illustration.