Ignacy Abramowicz, Textbook of Ophthalmology [1950]

Title: Textbook of Ophthalmology.

Author: Ignacy Abramowicz (1890–1982) [ophthalmologist, professor at Stefan Batory University in Vilnius and the Medical Academy in Gdańsk, one of the founders of postwar Polish academic ophthalmology].

Publisher: Warsaw, State Medical Publishing House.

Year of publication: 1950.

Format: 24 cm.

Volume: 561 pp., [26] plates (266 illustrations in the text and 26 plates).

Binding: Cloth-bound.

Ignacy Abramowicz’s *Textbook of Ophthalmology* was published in 1950 by the State Medical Publishing House, the leading publisher of medical literature in postwar Poland. It was a single-volume, systematic treatise covering the entire specialty, intended for both medical students and practicing physicians. During the years of the country’s reconstruction, amid a severe shortage of specialized literature, such a compendium was of particular importance for the training of new medical professionals. The volume included 266 figures in the text and 26 plates illustrating the anatomy of the eye, examination methods, and the clinical presentation of eye diseases. The textbook summarized the author’s experience gained over several decades of clinical and teaching practice at three academic centers: Vilnius, Lublin, and Gdańsk.

Ignacy Abramowicz was born on April 14, 1890, in Łódź. He received his medical degree in 1917 and subsequently specialized in ophthalmology. He was affiliated with the Ophthalmology Clinic at Stefan Batory University in Vilnius for over a decade. There, he earned his doctorate (1926) and habilitation (1928), and later the title of professor. After World War II, he headed the ophthalmology clinic in Lublin, and subsequently the Department and Ophthalmology Clinic at the Medical Academy in Gdańsk, which he helped establish. He trained a large group of ophthalmologists and was one of the leading figures in postwar Polish ophthalmology. He died in 1982 in Gdańsk.

Provenance: a handwritten ownership signature on the title page.

This is a classic postwar ophthalmology textbook, richly illustrated and bound in cloth. A must-have for historians of medicine, ophthalmologists, and collectors of vintage medical publications.

The text block is intact, with visible traces of a past water stain and pencil underlines extending to page 16; the remaining text is free of notes. The cloth binding shows natural signs of wear.

Catalog ID: 3351-24-A-Z