CELINE, Louis-Ferdinand.

La Vie & l'oeuvre de Philippe Ignace Semmelweis (1818-1865). Rennes, Francis printers Simon, 1924. Booklet in-8 [252 x 165] of 92 pp, (2) ff : stapled, in modern half cloth folder and slipcase. First edition printed in a small number out of trade, on author's account. This first book is already a literary work that announces the novels to come. Céline recounts quite freely the life and work of the Hungarian doctor, to whom we owe the diagnosis of puerperal fever: if so many parturients died, it was because of the doctors who, going from the dissection table to the delivery bed without washing their hands, infected those they were supposed to help. The simple prophylactic instruction suggested by Semmelweis - wash your hands - was considered ridiculous by the medical profession. Misunderstood and rejected, Semmelweis died of a scalpel accident.