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Illustrated work on birth defects 1634

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Title: De Monstrorum Caussis, Natura, et Differentiis, Libri Duo...
Author: Licetus, Fortunius
Description: [14], 262, [26] pp. Added engraved pictorial title-page. With 55 copperplate engravings in the text, many with multiple images. (4to) 7¾x5¾, period speckled calf, rebacked with modern calf, original spine labels. First Illustrated Edition.The first illustrated edition of the first comprehensive collection of monsters, or "freaks," and as such an early classification of deformities and birth defects. It was a main source of information on sexual and embryological matters not only for doctors but for lay people as well, and was still in use in the 19th century. The author, Fortunio Liceti (1577-1657) as a physician and lecturer at the University of Padua, noted for his expertise on Aristotle. The present work includes monsters both real and imagined and the plates include man/animal combinations that defy description. With armorial bookplate of Cornelius Paine on front pastedown, his ownership signature on front flyleaf, over which has been tipped the bookplate of John Barrymore. Osler 3235; Wellcome I, 3786.
Heading: Place Published: Padua
Publisher: Paulum Frambottum
Date Published: 1634