Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not

6R Florence Nightingale. London: Harrison, 1860. 

Quote

 "The very elements of what constitutes good nursing are as little understood for the well as for the sick. The same laws of health, or of nursing, for they are in reality the same, obtain among the well as among the sick."

Notes

Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) was a pioneering British nurse, statistician, and social reformer whose work transformed modern healthcare. She rose to international prominence during the Crimean War, where she organized nursing care for wounded soldiers and dramatically reduced death rates through improved sanitation, hygiene, and hospital organization. Nightingale believed that disease was often preventable and that clean water, fresh air, proper nutrition, and careful observation were essential to recovery. Beyond her wartime work, she used meticulous data collection and innovative statistical graphics to argue for systemic reform in military and civilian hospitals, establishing nursing as a respected, professional vocation and leaving a lasting imprint on public health worldwide.

Notes on Nursing, published in 1859, was Florence Nightingale’s most influential written work and the first modern textbook of nursing. Written in clear, practical language, it was intended not only for trained nurses but also for women caring for the sick at home. The book emphasizes the nurse’s responsibility to create the best conditions for nature to heal, focusing on ventilation, cleanliness, light, warmth, diet, and quiet. Rather than offering medical treatments, Nightingale framed nursing as a disciplined practice grounded in observation, common sense, and moral responsibility, reshaping how care itself was understood.

The impact of Notes on Nursing was profound and long-lasting. It helped standardize nursing practices at a time when hospital care was often chaotic and unsafe, influencing the training of nurses across Britain, Europe, and North America. The book elevated nursing from informal domestic labor to a skilled profession with its own body of knowledge, directly shaping the development of nursing schools and hospital reform. Its principles also reached beyond nursing, contributing to broader public health improvements by reinforcing the importance of sanitation, prevention, and evidence-based care—ideas that remain foundational in healthcare today.

Description

Camel color leather with gold tooling, fair condition. Leather cover with black canvas original book within. Advertisements on endpapers. Fine condition.