Preface:
This is the 25th and hence Silver Jubilee edition of this world
famous textbook. It has stood the test of time as evidenced by
increasing sales, edition by edition, a tribute to the foresight of
the original authors Hamilton Bailey and McNeill Love. Both set
out to produce a high quality, comprehensive textbook to be
enjoyed by both undergraduates and postgraduates. Part of their
magic formula was to combine clear and concise text with numerous
clinical photographs collected from their own archives. Most
important was the frequent use of anecdote and aphorism to
highlight points of clinical relevance, further enhanced by autobiographical
notes beloved by all devotees of the book. We, the
editors of this auspicious edition, therefore feel a particular
responsibility following in the footsteps of the original authors
and our colleague editors who continued this tradition over past
editions. It is always difficult to blend the old with the new but
this we have attempted to do. We present to the reader a comprehensive,
modern surgical textbook which, we hope, retains the
feel of the original. We have ensured that the text is liberally illustrated
with high quality reproductions and line drawings. Some of
Bailey and Love’s original illustrations have been retained
because they capture specific points so well that we have felt
obliged to keep them. Similarly the autobiographical notes
remain but have been updated. We have been particularly fortunate
in this endeavour in retaining the services of Dr J.G. Fairer
who, as a labour of love, has spent many hours ensuring the
veracity of these notes. To help the budding young surgeon faced
with that heart-sinking question from their boss, ‘What instrument
is that in your hand?’ followed by ‘And who was he?’, we
have started a new page in the appendix which gives answers to
a few of the most common queries. Let us know if you think it is
useful.
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