James Young Simpson's Notice of a New Anaesthetic Agent: The first pamphlet on chloroform

James Young Simpson's Notice of a New Anaesthetic Agent is a rare pamphlet of which three copies have hitherto been documented. Two of the three known copies were inscribed by Simpson with the words 'proof copy'. A fourth copy of the pamphlet, also inscribed with the words 'proof copy', has been identified. Although regarded by Simpson as a proof copy, there is previously unreported evidence that the pamphlet was advertised by the publisher on 12 November 1847, published on 13 November 1847, and sold on that day by booksellers in Edinburgh. Thus, the Notice pamphlet was the first published report of the use of chloroform as an anaesthetic agent. The pamphlet was issued 2 or 3 days before the well-known revised edition bearing the title Account of a New Anaesthetic Agent, and one week before the publication of Simpson's papers on chloroform in The Lancet and the Medical Times.