Ye olde nose job: The 16th century diagrams that detail the world's earliest plastic surgery



For celebrities such as Heidi Montag and Joan Rivers, cosmetic surgery is a modern luxury that allows them to look as they wish.

But details of the world's first ever nose jobs show how it's not as modern as you might imagine.

A 16th century book detailing one of the earliest rhinoplasty operations came to light when it was sold at auction.



Early surgery: A diagram of the world's first nose job, in which the patient's nose was attached to a flap of skin from his upper arm

The incredibly rare work, titled De Curtorum Chirurgia Per Insitionem - meaning The Surgery of Defects by Implantations - was published in 1597, and was written by Gaspare Tagliacozzi, professor or surgery and anatomy at the University of Bologna.

It describes operations carried out to repair faces that had been wounded in battle.



Modern luxury: These days, a rhinoplasty is a relatively straightforward procedure

The tome, which is written in Latin, is illustrated with diagrams, including the rhinoplasty, in which the patient's nose was attached to a flap of skin from his upper arm.

In one plate, the patient is seen in bed with his forearm attached to his head and a flap of skin from his bicep region stuck onto his nose.

The book tells how he stayed like that for about three weeks until the skin from his arm had attached itself properly.

After a further two weeks the flap of skin was shaped so it resembled a nose and the process was complete.

The book was sold for £11,000 to a modern-day plastic surgeon.



Chris Albury, from Dominic Winter auction house which sold the book at its saleroom in Cirecester, said: 'It's a wonderful and rare book.

'The typography, illustrations and book design are of a fantastically high standard that would put most modern publishers to shame.

Detailed: The book, which was written in Latin, shows how the patient's nose was attached to a flap of skin from his upper arm

Medical renaissance: The book even shows the tools the surgeon used

'What is strange is that the techniques and ideas in the book were clearly well-thought of at the time and yet all was so quickly forgotten following Tagliacozzi's death.

'This might have been because it was not approved by the religious authorities at the time who might have considered him interfering with God's work.

'There are also details and diagrams of the instruments used and other techniques that involved treatment to the ears and lips.

Well-thought techniques: The rare work was written by Gaspare Tagliacozzi, professor or surgery and anatomy at the University of Bologna

'We knew the book was extremely rare with copies hardly ever coming to auction so we were prepared for a battle between dealers and collectors.



'In fact, the book was finally bought by a practising plastic surgeon taking time out of his busy schedule to make a phone bid and fight off other determined room, phone and internet bidders.'

Though the book was the first to document any kind of cosmetic surgery, there is no evidence of any other such operations until the late 18th century when similar treatments were recorded.