Memoria del Dottore Gio. Batista Mazzoni, Professore di Chirurgia e d'Anatomia, Chirurgo negl'Imperiali Spedali di Santa Maria Nuova, degl'Innocenti, e di S. Giovanni di Dio; Dissettore Anatomico nell'anzidetto Spedale degl'Innocenti, e Membro corrispondente di varie Accademie. [on half-title: "Papille artificiali di nuova invenzione per togliere le varie difficoltà e pericoli degli allattamenti"]. MAZZONI, Giovanni Battista

"Newly-invented nipple shields to eliminate the various difficulties and dangers of breastfeeding" (half-title). The author states that he invented this type of nipple shield and, at the same time, his colleagues in Lyon had crafted something similar made of the same material ("elastic resin"). MAZZONI, Giovanni Battista. Memoria [on half-title: "Papille artificiali di nuova invenzione per togliere le varie difficoltà e pericoli degli allattamenti"]. Florence, Presso Francesco Daddi in Borgo Ognissanti, 1812. FIRST and ONLY EDITION. 4to, 22 pp. and a final engraved plate. Printed on strong, crisp and clean paper; wide-margined copy with untrimmed edges. Some age toning only to the initial leaf bearing the half-title, which is actually the title since it points out the topic of this "Memoria". Contemporary marbled paper wrappers. Excellent condition. Rare. The author states that breast milk is the best nutrition for newborn babies and, given this, the Medical Art must keep it in the greatest consideration. Except for those women who do not like to breastfeed their offspring, women often have difficulty in achieving proper breastfeeding for several reasons and, among these, the size of the nipple is crucial: too large or too small might be an issue for the newborn. Mazzoni then carries out a recap of historical advancements in the field of aiding women to achieve proper breastfeeding, starting with the poorly effective first animal leather nipple shields invented in France and England and ending with illustrating his idea of a nipple shields made of "resina-elastica", which, by the time he had them crafted by a craftsman in Florence, he already saw in use in Lyon, where he was able to discuss with his French colleague in order to perfect their design. Then, Mazzoni illustrates in detail his nipple shield of gum resin, which is shown in the final engraved plate. OCLC lists 3 copies in the US: NYPL, NLM and University of Minnesota.