September 5-7, 2023 Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/6/2023
Son of a prominent physician, Bard was born in 1742 in Philadelphia, studied at King's College (Columbia) with his father, St. Thomas Hospital in London, and Edinburgh University, receiving his medical degree in 1765. He returned to New York City, took over his father's practice, acquired a socially prominent clientele, and was a founder of the Columbia Medical School. Although loyalist in sympathies, he was vouched for by prominent figures and regained his social and medical standing after the Revolution, including being selected as a personal physician by Washington during his postwar time in New York. His day book reads like a who's who of prominent figures of the time, covering September to December 1788 and April to July 1789, with figures such as Governor Clinton, General Lamb, Colonel Hartley, and others frequently appearing, with records of treatment of themselves, wives, children, and slaves or servants. He retired in 1798, but remained interested in medicine, publishing a volume on obstetrics and midwifery. He died in Hyde Park, New York, in 1821. CONDITION: Fair. Approximately 150 pages, disbound, but preserving some signatures. Written in two columns per page, with 4 to 7 clients per column. Some pages smudged. Largely legible. Frequent Latin medicinal notations.
CORRECTION: The Washington notations are noted by Dr. Lattimer on the inside cover but their location has not been verified.