Principles and Art of Plastic Surgery

The Principles and Art of Plastic Surgery, was Gillies second textbook, published in 1957 by Butterworth and Co.

Co-authored with American Plastic Surgeon Dr. D. Ralph Millard, in two volumes presented in a cardboard sleeve, the work builds upon Gillies 1920 work "Plastic Surgery of the Face". The cover (see right) is an iconic image by Percy Hennell, pioneer in colour photogrpahy, depicting Gillies hands holding his personal scalpel engraved "HDG".

The book's gestation was not without problems. Millard had been Gillies' trainee at Rooksdown and much of the work for the book was conducted by correspondence. BAPRAS retains much of this correspondence, some whilst Millard had returned home to the U.S. and some whilst he was on active duty in Vietnam. These reveal that Gillies was not the easiest of people to work with. Millard must have had a great deal of patience to complete the draft text, much of which was his, at Gilles' direction.

Millard went on to be a leader in the surgery of cleft lip and palate, producing his definitive three volume opus “Cleft Craft” in 1976.