Very scarce with no records at auction since 1933 and none on the market at the time of cataloguing.
Emily Elizabeth Parsons [1824-1880] was an important Civil War nurse and hospital administrator. Her memoir provides extensive and unique insight into the Civil War and the treatment of sick and dying soldiers during her years of work at Fort Schuyler on Long Island and Benton Barracks Hospital in St. Louis.
Prior to the Civil War, most nurses were men. But the need of the hour called for a shift. She applied, though blind in one eye, all but deaf in one ear [from Scarlet Fever], and unable to stand for long periods of time. Her deep sense of care and her administrative abilities saw her rise through the ranks quickly. By the end, she was correspondent with Dorothea Dix, etc.
Parsons, Emily Elizabeth. Memoir of Emily Elizabeth Parsons. Published for the Benefit of the Cambridge Hospital. Boston. Little, Brown, and Co. 1880. 159pp.
A fair copy only. Spine cover lacking, blank ffep lacking, one gathering forward and badly shaken, rear board detached. For all that, textually complete and generally clean. Well worth preservation. It does not contain a frontis. The only copy I have been able to examine did not contain one either, but one may be lacking.
