De humani corporis fabrica libri septem

VESALIUS, Andreas

Published by Johannes Oporinus, Basel, 1555

About this Item

An exceptionally tall and fresh copy in a fine Wittenberg binding by Thomas Krüger. Second folio edition (third overall), of the work that not only revolutionised the understanding of anatomy, but can be said to mark the beginning of modern science. This is a fresh, exceptionally tall copy in a fine Wittenberg binding by Thomas Krüger. "The work of Andreas Vesalius of Brussels constitutes one of the greatest treasures of Western civilization and culture. His masterpiece, the Humani Corporis Fabrica . established with startling suddenness the beginning of modern observational science and research. [The] author has come to be ranked with Hippocrates, Galen, Harvey and Lister among the great physicians and discoverers in the history of medicine. However, his book is not only one of the most remarkable known to science, it is one of the most noble and magnificent in the history of printing. In it, illustration, text and typography blend to achieve an unsurpassed work of creative art; the embodiment of the new spirit of the Renaissance directed towards the future with new meaning" (Saunders and O'Malley, p. 9). "No other work of the 16th century equals it, though many share its spirit of anatomical inquiry. 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 18th 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 this encyclopedic work on the structure and workings of the human body, Vesalius provided a fuller and more detailed description of the human anatomy than any of his predecessors, correcting errors in the traditional anatomical teachings of Galen. Even more epochal than his criticism of Galen and other . authorities was Vesalius's assertion that the dissection of cadavers must be performed by the physician himself. As revolutionary as the contents of the Fabrica and the anatomical discoveries which it published, was its unprecedented blending of scientific exposition, art and typography" (Garrison-Morton). The more than 200 woodblocks were prepared in Venice under Vesalius' supervision and shipped to Oporinus in Basel with precise instructions as to their placement and letter-keyed captions. The finely drawn and anatomically precise woodcuts, by an unknown artist from the circle of Titian, brought anatomical illustration to a new level of realism. Totally interdependent, text and illustrations must be studied in tandem: some of the marginal notes to the illustrations relate a textual description to several illustrations located in different part of the work, a practice that was wholly unprecedented. "For the first time the pedagogic purpose of illustrations was achieved" (DSB). This second folio edition, establishing the corrected and revised authorial text, is a publication "even more lavish than the first" (Heirs of Hippocrates). It was printed on heavier paper with larger type, a new set of woodcut initials was cut, and the famous frontispiece of an anatomy was recut, now with a clothed (previously naked) figure perching on the left; the highly influential, elegant and scientific anatomical illustrations and portrait of Vesalius are printed from the original, 1543 blocks. Provenance: Early ?classmarks on title; Ford (modern ink title inscription). "Several motives underlay the composition and publication of the Fabrica. According to Vesalius medicine was properly composed of three parts; drugs, diet, and 'the use of the hands,' by which last he referred to surgical practice and especially to its necessary preliminary, a knowledge of human anatomy that could be acquired only by dissecting human bodies with one's own hands. Through disdain of anatomy, the most fundamental aspect of medicine, or, as Vesalius phrased it, by refusal to lay their hands on the patient's body, physicians betray their profession and ar. Seller Inventory # 6277

Bibliographic Details

Title: De humani corporis fabrica libri septem

Publisher: Johannes Oporinus, Basel

Publication Date: 1555

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: Second edition.