1894 The Disorders of Speech

Description

First Edition, Folding Plates, Illustrated, Publishers' Original Binding, Very Scarce

A very scarce first edition.

The work of Edinburgh based Professor of Medicine John Wyllie, who is best known for his 1860s thesis 'Observations on the physiology of the larynx'.

This seminal work collates a series of articles he contributed to the Edinburgh Medical Journal between October 1891 and May 1894, and discusses matters including anatomy, physiology, phonetics, and psychology to explain communication impairments.

Illustrated with a folding frontispiece and numerous vignettes.

Collated, complete.

This frontispiece is fascinating in that it introduces a 'physiological alphabet', which categorizes consonants based on voice, place, and manner, reflecting an early attempt to systematize speech sounds for therapeutic purposes. 

With a stamp reading 'Presented from the Library of the late Professor G. M. Robertson 1932' to the half title.

It has been suggested that this is one of the first comprehensive textbooks on speech disorders written in English.