THE MECHANICS OF MOVEMENT

Marks, George E. (1853–1932)

Manual of Artificial Limbs: An Exhaustive Exposition of Prosthesis ['Copiously Illustrated']

New York: A. A. Marks, 1918.

PROSTHETICS RESTORED WORK AND MOBILITY AT THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR. 
A remarkably detailed publication from the A. A. Marks artificial-limb company, combining practical prosthetic instruction, case histories, technical illustrations, discussions of amputation and disability, testimonials, and product information. 

MEDICAL MANUAL, TECHNICAL HISTORY, AND SALES CATALOGUE.
Although clearly intended to promote the firm's products, it is considerably more than a sales catalogue: the company itself describes the volume as a manual rather than a catalogue, organized to address the treatment and replacement of lost or impaired extremities. The extensive illustrations document artificial feet, legs, hands, arms, braces, fittings, suspension systems, and their use by adults and children.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: AN ILLUSTRATED HANDBOOK OF PROSTHETIC PRACTICE.
Original red cloth, front board and spine lettered in black. 8.5 inches tall;  384 pages. 'Copiously' illustrated throughout with drawings, diagrams, photographs, prosthetic devices, fittings, and patient examples.
+++ The title page describes the contents as covering artificial toes, feet, legs, fingers, hands, and arms; appliances for amputations, deformities, excisions, fractures, and other disabilities; treatment of stumps; and the history of prosthesis.
+++ Price section is headed Revised August 4, 1919, 
+++ The final portion includes customer experiences and testimonials documenting occupations and everyday activities performed with Marks prostheses. 
+++ A concluding illustration presents the firm's Broadway and East 4th Street building in New York, promoted as THE LARGEST MANUFACTORY OF ARTIFICIAL LIMBS IN THE WORLD. 

CONDITION: VERY GOOD. Bindings tight and square. Text clean with light, even age-toning. Moderate shelf and handling wear to the red cloth, with rubbing and some discoloration, particularly to the front board; corners and spine extremities lightly worn. Previous owner's address sticker on Front paste-down. 

AN UPDATED WORKING COPY.
The two-page price sheet has been pasted over the original price section, providing revised prices dated August 4, 1919. This commercial updating is particularly appropriate to the nature of the publication, showing the manual continuing in use as the company's products and prices changed.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: PROSTHETICS AT THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR.
A. A. Marks was established in New York in 1853 and developed into one of America's leading manufacturers of artificial limbs. By the First World War the company had become the country's largest supplier and had developed an international business. Its manuals were an important part of that enterprise, combining technical knowledge with promotion and customer experience.

The date is particularly significant. Published in 1918 and commercially updated in 1919, this edition appeared when the enormous number of disabled veterans produced by the First World War had brought prosthetics, rehabilitation, and the social reintegration of amputees into renewed public and medical attention.

SELLING INDEPENDENCE.
The illustrations make the book especially revealing as social history. Marks repeatedly depicts prosthesis not simply as replacement of a missing limb, but as a means of restoring mobility, employment, and ordinary activity. Children and adults are shown standing and walking; devices are explained mechanically; and testimonials describe users working as farmers, railroad employees, teachers, tradesmen, and others.

Modern scholarship has recognized this combination of technology, medicine, patient experience, and marketing as important to the development of American prosthetics. Marks gathered information from customers and used it both to improve products and to argue for the prosthetist's role alongside the surgeon.

SUBJECTS: Artificial Limbs, Prosthetics, Amputation, Disability History, Rehabilitation, Medical Devices, World War I, Industrial Medicine, Orthopedics, History of Medicine, Medical Trade Catalogues, Medical Technology, Orthopedics, Disability History, Industrial History.

Item #22483

Price: $125.00