Loubet - La Goutte - 1761

PRINCIPLES' PAIN: A Seventeenth-Century Treatise Against the Disease of the Rich and Kings

Fascinating French medical treatise devoted to gout, one of the most feared and symbolic diseases of the modern era, often associated with aristocracy, sovereigns and men of letters. This 1761 edition, revised, corrected and expanded, fits into the broad Enlightenment debate on experimental medicine and clinical observation, at a time when gout was interpreted as the result of civilization’s excess and luxury. The volume represents a precious testimony of pre-revolutionary French medicine and preserves a remarkably period-appropriate gold-decorated leather binding, an elegant example of Parisian book arts of the eighteenth century.
MARKET VALUE
Eighteenth-century medical works dedicated specifically to gout are today less common than the great general medical treatises. Complete copies in contemporaneous decorated binding, well preserved and free of invasive restorations, generally fetch between 300 and 600 euros, with higher values for especially fresh copies or with notable historical provenance.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary French full crushed morocco binding, spine with raised bands ornamented with floral tooling and golden geometric motifs, dark leather label with gilt title. Frontispiece. Edges and turn-ins worn. Paper with natural browning and scattered foxing. In ancient books with a multihundred-year history, some 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. Regarded as the illness of nobles, magistrates, ecclesiastics and sovereigns, it became almost a physical symbol of culinary excess and a comfortable lifestyle. In the eighteenth century the disease was the subject of numerous studies that sought to overcome ancient humoral theories through a more clinical and observational approach. This work appears in the form of medical letters, a very common format in the Enlightenment as it allowed the combination of dissemination, practical observation and theoretical reflection. The author addresses causes, symptoms, course and possible remedies of the disease, fitting into a tradition that saw gout not only as a physical pathology but also as a social phenomenon. Even 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 first forms of modern medicine, where patient observation began to prevail over purely theoretical explanations. Gout thus became one of the privileged grounds for discussing alimentation, metabolism and lifestyle—themes that would remain central in subsequent medicine.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Jean-Antoine Loubet was an eighteenth-century French physician active in the Enlightenment-era medicine. His works on gout enjoyed some diffusion and were reprinted in several editions, signaling 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 related to one of Europe’s most characteristic diseases of modern times.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Lettres sur la maladie de la goutte underwent several editions during the eighteenth century. The present “Nouvelle Édition” of 1761, expanded and corrected, testifies to the work’s success and the continued public interest in specialized medical treatises. Printed in Paris, it belongs to the grand era of French scientific publishing that accompanied the diffusion of the ideas 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, Loubet editions 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 (goutte).
ICCU/OPAC SBN, bibliographic census of eighteenth-century French editions.
Catalogue Collectif de France (CCFr), records of the Paris edition.