The House of Healing

London: Robert Hale Ltd., 1961. First Edition (presumed; no prior editions or printings cited). Octavo in blue cloth, gilt title, dust jacket; 208 pp: illustrations; 23 cm Fine in near fine gently rubbed jacket now in archival mylar. Hardcover.

A lucid, humane chronicle of the hospital’s evolution from its ancient origins as a refuge for the sick and poor to its emergence as a modern scientific institution. Writing with clarity and narrative grace, Risley traces the intertwining of religious charity, public health reform, and medical discovery, showing how shifting social ideals and advances in surgery, nursing, and sanitation transformed the hospital into a central emblem of organized compassion. Both historical survey and cultural meditation, the book illuminates the hospital not merely as a place of treatment but as a barometer of civilization’s ethical and technological progress.| History of health care, especially in the UK.