Lot 22E email save

HARVEY, William. Manuscript document signed, 1640.

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London: Christmas, 1640. Manuscript indenture on vellum (535 x 560 mm). Archivally framed with the famous portrait of Harvey by Houbraken. Condition: a few old folds, some light toning. rare autograph of william harvey, "doctor of phisicke," the discoverer of the circulation of the blood. The legal document concerning "William Harvey of London Doctor of Phisicke" and "William Lodges of Graies Inn" agreement for the former to lease property in Covent Garden for a period of 21 years. By the time of this agreement, Harvey was already famed both in England and abroad, having published his landmark De Motu Cordis. Therein, after 20 years of dissections and experiments, he proved that the motion of the blood in the human body is continuous and in one direction, returning to the heart, which acts as a pump, by a venous route. Fearing the reaction to such a novel idea, he wrote that, "...the die is cast and I put my trust in a love of truth and the clear vision of trained minds." Autographs of Harvey are rarely seen on the market.

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