About this Item
179 pp; printed slip tipped in at title page (see photo). LACKING LOOSE FOLDING CHART. Original printed wrappers. Wrappers crinkled, creased, with discoloration (see photos). Newspaper photo of Codman glued to p. 3. Good. First Edition. "Thomas Todd Co. Printers Boston" is printed at the bottom of the rear wrapper in small type (see photo). The printed slip (tipped in at the title page, see photo): "This Report will be sent gratis to any member of the American College of Surgeons or to any member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. To others the price will be one dollar. When you are through with this copy, kindly hand it to some other person preferably to a Hospital Trustee". This is the third, and final, report by Codman on "hospital efficiency" and his "end result" idea. His first report, on the first two years in his private hospital, was issued in May 1914; the second report on the next two years was issued in October 1915; and this third report on the first five years was issued either in late 1917 or early 1918 (there is a review of the third report in a medical journal in January 1918, so we know it was available no later than January 1918). All three reports were privately printed for Codman by Thomas Todd Co., printer in Boston. Todd is not mentioned on the title page, but the Todd imprint is on the rear wrapper, in small type, at the bottom of each report (see photo for this third report). In his famous book The Shoulder (1934, also privately printed for Codman by Thomas Todd), Codman stated that he still had "many copies" of his third report. Six years later, in 1940, Codman died. At that time, remaining copies of the third report were bound in blue cloth, with a pouch on the inside of the rear cover to hold the large folding chart, and distributed at Codman's request. The blue cloth copies have a printed label stating "This book is sent to you as an officer of the Massachusetts General Hospital, in fulfillment of a special request made by Dr. Codman shortly before his death on November 23rd, 1940." This blue cloth issue is sometimes called the first edition, but this is not correct. Although the sheets and the folding table are original, the blue cloth version is a later issue from 1940. The original edition of the third report is in printed wrappers [offered here]. IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT LARGE, FOLDING CHART: Codman's first two reports did not contain a large, folding chart. The chart was added to the third report. As Codman states on p. 69 of the third report, this chart was "loose": "In this large chart which I present to you (see loose leaf). . . ." UNFORTUNATELY this loose leaf is missing in the copy offered here. Garrison-Morton 1664.1 (citing the first report by Codman in 1914): "Pioneer application of efficiency engineering principles to hospital administration, made over a two year period. Codman was responsible for the 'end result idea'. This revolutionary concept, which seems so obvious today, was that a hospital should follow every patient it treats long enough to determine whether or not the treatment was successful. If the treatment was not successful the cause of failure should be determined in order to prevent similar failures in the future. Codman was exceptionally outspoken in his views." I have quoted only the beginning of the Garrison-Morton entry, which can be found online for free. The remainder of the entry details the publication history of the three reports by Codman on "hospital efficiency". Seller Inventory # 16974
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