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Review of War Surgery and Medicine. Vols. I–II (March 1918 – June 1919).
Washington, D.C.: Office of the Surgeon General, U.S. Army, 1918–1919.
Thick octavo (approx. 9 × 6 in). Bound in contemporary blue cloth, gilt-lettered spine (“Review of War Surgery and Medicine 1918–19”), faint rubbing at extremities. Original gray printed wrappers for individual issues retained.
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Description
A rare complete run of the Review of War Surgery and Medicine, issued monthly by the Office of the Surgeon General during the final months of World War I. Each issue—prepared in the Surgeon General’s Office—was intended for limited circulation among Army medical officers and instructors. As the inaugural Editorial Note (March 1918) states, the publication’s purpose was threefold:
1. to furnish military physicians with abstracts of important contemporary papers,
2. to equip officers and instructors in the Medical Corps with concise, up-to-date information, and
3. to provide a medium for the rapid dissemination of original reports of educational value.
Together, these issues record the American Expeditionary Forces’ evolving understanding of trauma surgery, gas injuries, wound infection, orthopedic repair, and neurology, representing the U.S. Army’s first organized effort to codify lessons of battlefield medicine on a monthly basis.
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Provenance and Annotations
This copy bears contemporary manuscript notes in red and black ink linking it directly to the publication’s editorial staff.
• The front endpaper inscription describes the Review as a project “conceived by M. G. Seely [sic], aimed at training of the Medical Corps at base hospitals within the U.S. and with the Expeditionary Forces,” noting continuation “from March 1918 to April 1919, when George Mueller, M.D., Major M.O.R.C., took over.”
• A second note on the first issue’s Editorial Note page confirms: “Also duly dedicated to his wife. The Editor—Major M.G. Seely [Seelig] M.O.R.C.… From March 1919 George Mueller Major M.O.R.C. assisted with this Review.”
These annotations identify Major Gabriel Seelig (1874–1953), M.R.C., as the founding editor—confirmed by bibliographic records in HathiTrust and Washington University School of Medicine archives—and Major George Mueller (M.O.R.C.), who is documented in 1919 Surgeon General’s Office correspondence regarding the Peripheral Nerve Commission, as his assistant. This makes the present volume an editorially associated copy, almost certainly compiled or handled within the Surgeon General’s Office itself.
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Significance
The Review of War Surgery and Medicine is a cornerstone document in the formation of modern U.S. military medical practice. Its monthly abstracts prefigured the Army Medical Bulletin (est. 1922) and represent the first systematic American attempt to translate battlefield experience into continuing medical education for officers. Surviving sets are scarce, almost entirely confined to institutional holdings (Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine).
The present example—annotated by the publication’s editor and successor—is of particular historical and documentary importance, providing direct provenance to the editorial staff of the Office of the Surgeon General during WWI.
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Condition
Near Fine overall: minor rubbing at spine ends, gilt bright, interior exceptionally clean, wrappers well preserved and lightly toned.
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A rare and significant U.S. Army medical publication from the First World War, this annotated copy providing direct editorial provenance to Major Gabriel Seelig and Major George Mueller of the Surgeon General’s Office. Comparable institutional examples are exceedingly Scarce.
