English physician and scientist (1749–1823) often called the ‘father of immunology,’ who successfully tested his smallpox inoculation in 1796. Rare ALS signed “Edw. Jenner,” one page, 4 x 6.5, February 1821. Letter to a gentleman. In full: “I understand that Mr. White of Wells, a veterinary surgeon of the highest reputation is shortly expected to pay you a visit. Pray, can you tell me what day he will be at your house?” Attractively double–suede-matted with an engraved portrait and biographical plaque, and framed to an overall size of 18.5 x 18. In fine condition.
When Edward Jenner tested the strength of his vaccine by injecting eight-year-old James Phipps with the smallpox virus to see whether or not his inoculated patient would resist the virus, as he expected, he put his medical reputation on the line. Jenner’s contribution was not simply in identifying secretions from cowpox blisters as an effective vaccine, but in staking his career on it; when Phipps showed no sign of infection—along with 23 other patients subjected to the same procedure—the medical community began to consider the cowpox inoculation as the solution, eventually accepting it in 1840. Written near the end of his life, the same year that he was appointed Physician Extraordinary to King George IV and made Mayor of Berkeley and Justice of the Peace, this is an exceptional letter from one of the most important figures in modern medicine. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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