Organon de l’art de guérir; traduit de l’original allemand du Dr. Samuel Hahnemann Conseiller de Son Altesse Sérénissime le Duc d’Anhalt-Köthen, par Erneste George de Brunnow.
a Dresde: chez Arnold, libraire-éditeur [a Berlin, de l’imprimerie d’Auguste Guillaume Schade, Alte Grün-Strasse No. 18.], 1824. First edition. In later red half Russia in period style, ribbed spine gilt; publisher’s blue wrappers preserved. [9] X–LXII [2] [1]–271 [1] p. Untrimmed at outer and lower edges, top edge gilt. Slight fading to upper front panel; light dampstaining to lower outer corner of first 20 leaves; title lightly foxed. A fine copy overall.
First French edition of the foundational treatise of homeopathy, and the first translation of the Organon into any language—a key product of Romantic-era medical and intellectual reform.
Samuel Hahnemann’s Organon, first published in German in 1810, introduced a radically different model of medicine based on the principle similia similibus curentur—“like cures like.” In contrast to the dominant “heroic” treatments of the time, it advocated a gentler, individualized approach grounded in close symptom observation and the use of highly diluted substances. The Organon codified a system that drew from Enlightenment rationalism while reflecting the Romantic search for harmony between nature, spirit, and healing.
This 1824 edition is the first translation of the Organon into any language, based on the revised and expanded second German edition (1819). The translator, Baron Ernest Georg von Brunnow (1796–1845), though not a physician, was a key figure in the early promotion of homeopathy in Europe. Treated successfully by Hahnemann as a young man, Brunnow became a committed advocate. His translation was instrumental in spreading Hahnemann’s ideas to French-speaking audiences in France and beyond. He also contributed to the Latin translation of Materia Medica Pura and translated several of Hahnemann’s lesser writings into French.
The edition opens with a dedication to Duke Frederick Ferdinand of Anhalt-Köthen, Hahnemann’s patron after his departure from Leipzig, followed by Brunnow’s introduction situating homeopathy within ongoing medical debates. It includes the prefaces to the first (1810) and second (1819) German editions, and concludes with a French translation of Hahnemann’s treatise on small doses, excerpted from volume six of the Materia Medica Pura.
Published in the midst of a broader Romantic reconsideration of science, nature, and the human body, the Organon resonated with the period’s intellectual currents—from Goethe’s natural philosophy and Schelling’s vitalism to Alexander von Humboldt’s integrative vision of the natural world. Far from being an isolated medical anomaly, it was a product of its age: a synthesis of empirical observation and speculative thought shaped by the philosophical and cultural upheavals of early 19th-century Europe.
Extremely scarce. The last recorded sale on Rare Book Hub dates to 1963. Institutional holdings are limited, with most copies located in France and Germany. Only a single copy is recorded in the United States (University of Wisconsin).
References:
Kuzniar, A. A., The Birth of Homeopathy out of the Spirit of Romanticism (Toronto, 2017); Whitney, J., “The Evolution of the Organon,” Homeopathy in Practice, Spring 2010.
.
Price: €6,000.00