Loubet - La Goutte - 1761

THE PAIN OF PRINCES: A Seventeenth-Century Treatise Against the Illness of the RICH AND OF KINGS
Fascinating French medical treatise dedicated to gout, one of the most feared and symbolic diseases of the modern age, often associated with aristocracy, rulers, and men of letters. This 1761 edition, revised, corrected and expanded, sits within the vast Enlightenment debate on experimental medicine and clinical observation, at a moment when gout was interpreted as the result of the excesses of civilization and luxury. The volume represents a precious testimony of pre-revolutionary French medicine and retains a notable contemporary binding richly decorated in gold, an elegant example of Parisian book art of the eighteenth century.
MARKET VALUE
Centuries-old medical works dedicated specifically to gout are today less common than the great general medical treatises. Complete copies in contemporaneous decorated bindings, well preserved and without invasive restorations, generally fetch a market range between 300 and 600 euros, with higher values for copies of particular freshness or historical provenance.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary French full leather badged binding in marbled calf, spine with raised bands adorned with floral irons and gold geometric motifs, dark leather label with gilt title. Printer’s frontispiece. Wear to edges and joints. Paper with natural browning and scattered foxing. In old books, with a centuries-old history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. (4); 264; 2nn; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Lettres sur la maladie de la goutte.
Paris, chez Despilly, 1761.
Jean-Antoine Loubet.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Gout occupied for centuries a singular position in the history of European medicine. Considered the disease of nobles, magistrates, ecclesiastics, and sovereigns, it became almost a physical symbol of excessive eating and indulgent living. In the eighteenth century the disease was the subject of numerous studies seeking to move beyond ancient humoral theories through a more clinical and observational approach. This work appears in the form of medical letters, a formula very widespread in the Enlightenment as it allowed the joining of public dissemination, practical observation, and theoretical reflection. The author addresses causes, symptoms, course, and possible remedies of the disease, placing himself in a tradition that saw gout not only as a physical pathology but also as a social phenomenon. Still in the eighteenth century it was often linked to the consumption of wine, fine meats, and sedentary habits. The volume testifies to the transition from traditional medicine to the early forms of modern medicine, in which patient observation began to prevail over purely theoretical explanations. Gout thus became one of the privileged grounds for discussing diet, metabolism, and lifestyle, themes that would remain central in later medicine.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Jean-Antoine Loubet was a French physician of the eighteenth century active in the Enlightenment medical context. His works on gout enjoyed a fair diffusion and were reprinted in multiple editions, a mark of the interest this pathology aroused among the educated public and medical circles of the time. Through accessible yet clinically grounded writing, he contributed to the dissemination of medical knowledge relating to one of the most characteristic diseases of early modern Europe.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Lettres sur la maladie de la goutte went through several editions during the eighteenth century. The present “Nouvelle Édition” of 1761, expanded and corrected, testifies to the success of the work and the continued public interest in specialized medical treatises. Printed in Paris, it belongs to the great era of French scientific publishing that accompanied the spread of the Encyclopédie and Enlightenment medicine.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
National Library of Medicine (NLM), “Lettres sur la maladie de la goutte”, historical catalog, Paris, 1760-1761.
WorldCat, bibliographic records of eighteenth-century editions.
Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Catalogue général, editions of Loubet on gout.
Diderot & d’Alembert, Encyclopédie, entry “Goutte”.
Frank A. Kafker, The Encyclopedists as Individuals, Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century.
EM-Consulte, L’histoire des tourments de la podagre (gout).
ICCU/OPAC SBN, bibliographic censuses of eighteenth-century French editions.
Catalogue Collectif de France (CCFr), records of the Paris edition.