© Gaspare TagliacozziA nose job, 16th century style. From the first plastic surgery book ever printed.
The incredibly rare work is written in Latin and illustrated with diagrams of the process in which the patient's nose was attached to a flap of skin from his upper arm.
The surgery - known as rhinoplasty - is considered a modern phenomenon but this book shows it was used over 400 years ago.
The skill, however, was mysteriously lost until the late 18th century when similar treatments were recorded.
Today, celebrities are keen to undergo nose jobs for reasons of vanity, with the late singer Michael Jackson one of the world's most famous people to have had them done.
But when this astonishing book was written, the operation was carried out to repair faces that had been wounded in battle
This book, which sold for a whopping 11,000 pounds to a modern-day plastic surgeon, was written by Gaspare Tagliacozzi.
He was the professor or surgery and anatomy at the University of Bologna and devised ways of repairing noses, ears and lips.
In one diagram from the book, the patient is seen in bed with his forearm attached to his head and a flap of skin - or pedicle - from his bicep region stuck onto his nose.
He stayed like that for about three weeks until the skin from his arm had attached itself properly.
After a further two weeks the bit of skin was shaped so it resembled a nose and the process was complete.
The book De Curtorum Chirurgia Per Insitionem - meaning The Surgery of Defects by Implantations - was published in 1597, two years before the author's death.
Chris Albury, from Dominic Winter auction house which sold the book at its saleroom in Cirecester, Glos, 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.
"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.
"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."
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