The first English textbook of plastic surgery: William (Jerry) Moore

The nineteenth century bore witness to a remarkable proliferation of reconstructive literature in Europe, based on procedures originally described in India and Italy. Despite the publication of a successful forehead flap in England in 1816, texts exclusively dedicated to the field of plastic surgery were relatively scarce in the English-speaking world. The authors sought to identify the first English textbook entirely devoted to plastic surgery. A comprehensive examination was undertaken, spanning various databases encompassing medical, medical humanities and historical domains (PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Anthropology, JSTOR, Encyclopedia of Ancient History), as well as an extensive perusal of materials housed in the State Library of Victoria, the University of Melbourne and the HathiTrust Digital Library. The scope of this search was confined to publications predating Harold Gillies’ influential 1920 textbook. Within this vast literary landscape, an Australian surgeon named William Moore emerged as a figure of notable significance, authoring the first textbook of plastic surgery in English in 1899. Moore’s legacy as a pioneering surgeon ahead of his era is undeniable. Yet, various factors conspired to obscure his rightful place in the annals of surgical history.