Persistence Pays – The Discovery of Dr William Russ Pugh's Log and Journal of His 1835 Voyage from England to New Holland | John Paull (Ed.) | 2017 | Hardcover Limited Edition 54/150 [USED – HC – Very Good]

The log and journal kept by Dr William Russ Pugh during his 1835 voyage from England to New Holland — transcribed, annotated and published by retired Launceston anaesthetist Dr John Paull in 2017.

Pugh arrived in Hobart in December 1835 and walked north to Launceston, where he established a medical practice that would make history. On 7 June 1847 he performed the first surgical operations under anaesthetic in Australia — removing a tumour from a woman's jaw and cataracts from a man's eyes at his private St John's Hospital, using ether he had made himself and an inhalation device he built from a diagram in the Illustrated London News.

Only nine days had passed since he read the account of ether anaesthesia that inspired him. Pugh was also a founding member of the Royal Society of Tasmania, a scientist, chemist, meteorologist and the most controversial doctor in colonial Launceston — he had 17 lawsuits out against fellow practitioners at one point.

The journal covers the 1835 voyage itself — the ships, the sea, the passengers, and the world Pugh was leaving behind before he found his place in Australian medical history.

This is the hardcover deluxe limited edition — numbered 54 of 150, featuring fabric spine, recessed cover painting, title in gold leaf, beautiful endplates of early 19th century paintings of Gravesend (where Pugh embarked) and Hobart Town, and 25 illustrations of maps, scenes and portraits.

Signed by editor John Paull.

BOOK DETAILS

• Hardcover limited edition.
• 84 pages, indexed.
• Approximately 20.5cm wide x 28.5cm tall.
• Numbered 54 of 150.
• Signed by editor.
• Published 2017.

CONDITION

Used, very good condition.

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