Vaccination

1808 · Best.-Nr. 26072 — Stockholm: Herik A Nordstrom 1808. First Edition. As issued. Broadside untrimmed with a neat vertical central fold a little creased at tail of fold with a couple of small paper flaws though with no loss small nick extremities faintly dust soiled; engraved sheet a good strong bright impression; a most appealing and fresh example. Large oblong letterpress broadside 347 x 430mm together with accompanying hand coloured engraved sheet with two figures 192mm x 284mm. The text is in Swedish. A striking and scarce public health broadside published by the medical authorities in Stockholm promoting Jenners smallpox vaccination and warning against the dangers of using non-genuine vaccines compiled by the leading Swedish physician Sven Hedin 1750-1821. As Hedin notes thanks to millions of reliable findings Jenners discoveries have been widely accepted as being infallible and thus adopted by many countries even the wild nations in America. The present broadside issued out of sheer kindness for the greater good and leaving profit aside was designed to be prominently displayed and easily disseminated and describes a number of key indicators to enable parents and indeed those vaccinated themselves to assess whether they have received a genuine rather than counterfeit dose. To aid further the broadside is accompanied by a unique and striking hand coloured engraved sheet illustrating the effects of genuine and successful vaccination as against a non-genuine and spurious vaccination which produced a scabious reaction. Hedin was a professor at Uppsala and personal physician to the King. The author of a number of popular medical works he had long advocated smallpox vaccination and had previously espoused its benefits in a short pamphlet Kopporna kunna utrotras eller vaccinationen in 1802. Thanks to his advocacy a mandatory vaccination program was established in Sweden in 1815. Here found on one sheet the engravings had originally been included in his work of 1802. We have been led to understand that a comparison with the work of 1802 pamphlet suggests that plate 1 has been newly engraved and plate 2 re-engraved for this issue. OCLC locates only one copy at the National Library of Sweden with a further copy at the National Library of Medicine; see ttps://stockholmskallan.stockholm.se/post/34060 for a transcription of the text. My thanks to D Coltham for her careful description. Herik A Nordstrom books