Meinecke Book of the Sick Room" -- Home Nursing on the Eve of WWI with section of Sick Room Supply Catalog

New York, New York: Meinecke & Company, 1914. Good. Toning with light wear and dust soiling to wrappers, a couple chips to spine.. A DIY guide for homemakers to nursing the sick at home, complete with an illustrated trade catalogue of helpful equipment for the sick room sold by Meinecke & Company of New York. Published just before the start of the First World War, it provides a look into the state of the profession at this time, and the kinds of skills and knowledge considered important for wives and homemakers responsible for domestic home care who lack servants or a trained nurse at home (i.e. most of the population). Subjects addressed include: readying and furnishing the sick room; general routine in the sick room; the care of the bed (e.g. use of a rubber sheet); hygienic care of the patient; bed sores and how to relieve them; how to care for delirious patients; practical nursing hints; and items and medicines to keep on hand. The guide is followed by a trade catalogue of Meinecke & Company products such as bedside tables, serving trays, bed pans, urinals, bandages, thermometers, and even a pocket "sputum" flash for tuberculosis patients. Stated second edition. Single vol. (7" by 4.5"), pp. [2], 80, [2], original illustrated blue wrappers with illustration of a nurse in her bright white uniform writing on the chalk board, "Practical Points on Home Care of the Sick and the Best Sick-Room Appliances".

Pages 39-80 are a sick room supply catalog. Note the consistent use of the "she/her" pronouns; nursing at this time was very much woman's work, and was becoming more and more professionalized as such.