At Luxor, Egypt, in 1862 the American collector and dealer in papyri Edwin Smith purchased the papyrus which bears his name. It is preserved at the New York Academy of Medicine. The original text was written about 3000 BCE; the present manuscript is a copy dating from about 1600 BCE. It is the oldest known surgical treatise and consists entirely of case reports; it describes 47 different cases of injuries and affections of the head, nose, and mouth, together with methods of bandaging. 

A more recent edition in French is: Claude Carrier and Dider Fournier, Le papyrus chirurgical Edwin Smith (New York Academy of Medicine Library). Brest: PAM, 2015. This edition includes a transcription of the text with philological analysis followed by a medical analysis case by case.