Natural History, Science & Medicine
VESALIUS, Andreas.
De humani corporis fabrica libri septem.
Basle, [colophon:] Johannes Oporinus, June, 1543. Folio, pp. [xii], 659, (recte 663), [36], with a fine woodcut title, woodcut portrait of the author, two double page-size woodcuts (within pagination and folded; one printed on both sides), and one additional folded leaf with eight woodcuts, 21 full-page woodcuts, c. 200 smaller woodcuts, numerous woodcut initials, and woodcut printer's device at the end; ruled in red throughout and the capitals rubricated in pale yellow; title mounted at the date of binding (a little loss to inner margin of the woodcut border), tears to *2 and to the leaf with the portrait repaired without loss; one opening with offsetting from an inserted leaf; occasional light spotting; 17th-century French mottled, spine richly ornamented and lettered in gilt a la grotesque, raised bands, sprinkled edges; minor restorations to corners. Provenance: 19th-century collector's stamp 'Raspail' to lower margin of title, presumably that of François Vincent Raspail (1794-1878), botanist, chemist, hygienist of national renown, and radical socialist reformer; front paste-down with 18th-century inscription 'Frizac', probably either the Toulouse surgeon Jean-Jacques Frizac or his son, Jacques Marie, and with a bibliographical note below; bottom of paste-down with early 20th-century engraved bookplate of François Moutier (1881-1961), who first introduced the endoscope to France.
A VERY GOOD, CLEAN COPY IN A VERY WELL PRESERVED 17TH-CENTURY BINDING, OF THE FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT WORKS IN THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE. This copy is complete with the leaf of overlays, intended to be cut out and lacking in a number of copies. 'The Fabrica, a handsomely printed folio, is remarkable for its series of magnificent plates, which set new technical standards of anatomical illustration, and indeed of book illustration in general. They have generally been ascribed to an artist of Titian's school ... No other work of the sixteenth century equals it ... It was translated, reissued, copied and plagiarized over and over again and its illustrations were used or copied in other medical works until the end of the eighteenth century' (PMM). 'Published when the author was only 29 years old, the Fabrica revolutionized not only the science of anatomy but how it was taught. Throughout his encyclopaedic work on the structure and workings of the human body, Vesalius provided a fuller and more detailed description of the human body than any of his predecessors, correcting errors in the traditional anatomical teachings of Galen. Even more epochal than his criticism of Galen and other medieval authorities was Vesalius' assertion that the dissection of cadavers must be performed by the physician himself' (Garrison-Morton). The present copy is complete with the inserted single leaf m3, headed Charta parvas aliquot figuras complectens: 'This leaf has on its recto eight anatomical figures which were to be cut out and superimposed on the folded m3 double-leaf ... The half-sheet in question is often absent' (Cushing). Adams V603. Choulant/Frank, pp. 178-180. Cushing, Vesalius, VI.A.-1. Cushing V76. Dibner 122. Garrison and Morton 375. Heirs of Hippocrates 172. Grolier/Horblit 98. Osler 567. NLM/Durling 4577. Norman Library 2137. Printing and the Mind of Man 71. Waller 9899.
Price: £ 275000
US Dollar Price: $ 545270
Stock Number: 74185