(Drugs) Mariani, Angelo. Coca and Its Therapeutic Application. New York: J. N. Jaros, 52 W. 15th St, 1890. FIRST AMERICAN EDITION AND FIRST TRANSLATION IN ENGLISH. 8vo - 8-7/8" x 6". Original blind-stamped brown cloth covered boards with titles stamped in gilt to front cover and spine with minor spotting along spine and extremities, and only the slightest hint of rubbing at the corners for what is a really nice copy of the book. a.e.g. Brown coated endpapers. 78 pp., plus woodcut frontispiece and double-page colored plate. Angelo Mariani (1838-1914) was a chemist and entrepreneur from the island of Corsica. In 1863 he moved to Paris where he set up shop and began unlocking the secrets of Erythroxylon coca. Within three years he had mastered the art of extracting cocaine from it. It is at this point where Mariani the entrepreneur take over from Mariani the scientist. Mariani blended the cocaine with wine, and delighted with the combination, launched Vin Mariani two years later. He would go international in 1880 when he opened a successful operation in New York. By this point, Mariani had become so successful that his name was a household word throughout America and Europe.
In the introduction to the present work, Mariani states "[t]he aim of this modest work is to offer to the medical profession a short account of the history of Coca, and of the investigations which it has called forth up to the present day." The dedication page of the book reads: "These pages are inscribed and respectfully dedicated to those learned gentlemen of the medical profession who have kindly aided me in my efforts to popularize that valuable addition to therapeutics, Erythroxylon Coca. A. Mariani." A ten page list of "Physicians who have been good enough to formally endorse 'Vin Mariani,'..." is included at the end of the text, one of the names on this list, "J. C. Benzinger, M.D." is written on a blank preliminary page along with "with compliments of the Author;" we have not been able to verify the origin of this inscription; book is illustrated throughout with woodcuts within text plus the previously listed plates. The condition of the book is NEAR FINE. VERY SCARCE in the first edition in collectible condition. # 001227