This book codified and published the lectures, doctrines and observations of Laurent Biett (1781-1840), the leading clinical teacher in dermatology of the early 19th century, who published very little himself. Cazenave was a master clinician who founded the first scientific periodical devoted exclusively to dermatology. The Abrégé improves upon Bateman, especially in the section on the cutaneous manifestions of syphilis. “Continually revised and translated into all of the important languages of the Western World, the Abrégé becamethe most influential text of the time and remained so for 30 years” (Crissey & Parish). English translations 1829, 1832, 1842.

Laurent Théodore Biett (1781-1840), was a pupil of Alibert, Willan, and Bateman. His classic description of lupus erythematoides migrans (“Biett’s disease”) occurs on pp. 11 and 415 of the above work.