Author: DAVIS (J. B.):
Title: The Ancient and Modern History of Nice; Comprehending An Account of the Foundation of Marseilles: To which are prefixed Descriptive Observations on the Nature, Produce, and Climate of The Territory of the Former City, and to its Adjoining Towns: With An Introduction Containing Hints of Advice to Invalids, who, with the Hope of Arresting the Progress of Disease, seek the renovating Influence of these salubrious Climes.
Description: London: Printed for Tipper & Richards..., 1807. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 8vo, 204 x 126 mms., pp. xxxii, 348, contemporary half calf, gilt spine, maroon morocco label, marbled boards; lacks engraved view of Nice by F. C., Lewis, title-page foxed, with the armorial bookplate of Henry Birkbeck on the front paste-down end-paper and his autograph on the top margin of the recto of the front free end-paper. The frontispiece appears never to have been bound into the book. Noticing the work in 1807, The Annual Review and History of Literature was rather sniffy about the author's style: "This volume contains a whimsical medley of philosophy, medicine, antiquities, topography, and sentiment; nor is the last by any means the least. Dr. Davis has probably so much habituated himself to the reading of French writers, that he has thence insensibly contracted their peculiarities of manner. He abounds in ejaculations, interjections, and those romantic bursts of feeling which ill suit the sobriety of English readers." The physician John Bunnell Davis (1777 - 1824) studied surgery at Guy's Hospital and St Thomas's Hospital, London, and became a member of the Company of Surgeons. He was taken prisoner of war while in France as doctor to a travelling English family. ODNB records "He made the best of his circumstances, continuing his medical studies at Montpellier, and graduating MD there in 1803, having completed a dissertation on cancer."

Keywords: topography medicine prose


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