Gunn's Domestic Medicine, or Poor Man's Friend, 1830 | Early American Medical Guide

"Gunn’s Domestic Medicine, or Poor Man’s Friend, In The Hours of Affliction, Pain and Sickness. This Book Points Out in Plain Language, Free From Doctor's Terms, The Diseases of Men, Women, and Children, and The Latest and Most Approved Means Used In Their Cure, and Is Expressly Written for The Benefit of Families in The Western and Southern States. It also contains Descriptions of the Medicinal Roots and Herbs of The Western and Southern Country, and How They are used in the Cure of Diseases: Arranged on a new and simple plan, by which the Practice of Medicine is Reduced to Principles of Common Sense" (1830), printed in Knoxville under the immediate superintendence of the author. This early American medical guide presents practical information on common ailments and their treatment, with particular interest in the medicinal roots, herbs, and plants of the Southern and Western United States. A fascinating historical volume for collectors of early American medicine, herbal remedies, and frontier-era domestic life.

Octavo (5" x 8"), 440 pages. Bound in full black leather with gilt lettering and a decorative gilt rule to the spine. The binding shows edgewear, scuffed and rubbed boards, and corners worn through to the boards with some loss. The head and foot of the spine have been replaced, and both joints are starting, though the binding remains secure.

The text is heavily foxed, with marginal dampstaining and toned pages, some heavily. The leaf containing pages 293–294 and the rear free endpaper are lacking. The upper margin of the first free endpaper bears an old-ink manuscript notation, along with some pencil notes. There is marginal loss to pages 213–214, without loss of text.

Despite its condition issues, this is an interesting surviving example of early nineteenth-century American medical publishing, particularly appealing to collectors of herbal medicine, Southern history, and traditional remedies.