Journal, 1813

Journal de 1813. Commencé le premier janvier à Koenigsberg. Fini le 1er janvier 1814. Author's holograph MS. On the verso of the first leaf the author has written: 'Ce journal ne sera jamais vu que de mon fils et après ma mort'. Inside the upper cover and on the verso of the last leaf are notes of moneys sent to Madame Larrey during the period of the journal, some in pencil. The journal begins in a hospital at Koenigsberg where Larrey is recovering from a 'malignant fever', contracted during the retreat from Moscow. He was later sent on a visit to the King of Naples, and describes his journey across Germany, and gives his impressions of hospitals and medical schools in that country. During his travels he met Johann Friedrick Meckel [1781-1833], the German anatomist, Franz Xavier Swediaur [1748-1824], the Austro-German pathologist and syphilologist, and others. Later he describes the Battle of Leipzig, 16-19 October, 1813, in which the casualties amounted to 80,000 in killed alone. At the end of the volume is a section headed 'Réflexions philosophiques sur l'exercice de ma profession', which contains many allusions to his experiences in the Russian Campaign. Written inside the lower cover is a note that he has sent his beloved Arab horse 'Russo' 'd'une beauté rare' as a present to his wife at Dresden, on 13 August.

1813-14

1 volume 35 ll. tall 8vo. 15 × 7 cm. Original boards, covered in green silk. Four leaves have been cut out after the first leaf, and a leaf or leaves at the end.

Purchased 1930.

Database description transcribed from S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973).