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Vesalius (Andreas) De humani corporis fabrica

Vesalius (Andreas) De humani corporis fabrica,

first edition, wood-engraved title depicting Vesalius performing surgical operation, wood-engraved portrait, 2 folding leaves m3 & p4 with the eight woodcut anatomical details cut out and superimposed on the woodcut figure on folding leaf m3 as intended, over 200 woodcut anatomical illustrations including 21 full-page and 2 double-page of the skeletal, muscular, vascular, and nervous systems, historiated initials depicting dissection, surgery, obstetrical practice and other medical arts, woodcut device on verso of colophon, pp.313-491 misnumbered 213-391, and pp. 662-663 misnumbered 658- 659, first 4 ff. with some contemporary underlining and marginalia, neat old repair to margins of title & head of *2, repaired short tears to O4, O5, S4, and r5, some light spotting nineteenth century marbled endpapers, eighteenth century calf, spine with gilt compartments within raised bands, repaired with later calf at spine ends and corners, rubbed with some splitting at joints, preserved in modern calf-backed marbled drop-back box, [Horblit 98; G&M 375; Osler 568; Grolier, Medicine 18a; Adams V603; PMM 71], folio, Basel, ex officina Johannes Oporinus, June, 1543.

***A handsome and clean copy of the work that revolutionised the understanding of anatomy as a science, and 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 human anatomy than any of his predecessors, correcting errors in the traditional anatomical teachings of Galen (which had been obtained from primate rather than human dissections), and arguing that knowledge of human anatomy was to be obtained only from human sources. Even more revolutionary than his criticism of Galen and other medieval authorities was Vesalius' assertion that the dissection of cadavers must be performed by the physician himself... This 'hands-on' principle remained Vesalius' most lasting contribution to the teaching of anatomy." Norman Library 2137. "Galen was not merely improved upon: he was superseded; and the history of anatomy is divided into two periods, pre-Vesalian and post-Vesalian." PMM..