Details
VESALIUS, Andreas (1514-1564). Tabulae anatomica sex. London: privately printed for Sir William Stirling Maxwell, 1874.
2o (658 x 505 mm). Historiated border, illustrated title, portrait and 6 plates. Contemporary russia backed marbled boards (light wear to edges). Provenance: Ira M. Rutkow (pencil signature on rear flyleaf).
LIMITED EDITION, one of 30 copies only of this first facsimile edition of Vesalius' first anatomical publication originally issued in Venice in 1538. A set of six oversized broadsides, the Tabulae Anatomicae Sex were designed to be mounted on the wall for reference during dissections, and as a result, only two complete copies of the original printings of the six oversized anatomical plates survived. One set is in the Bibliotheca Nazionale Marciana of Venice. The other was purchased in 1857 by Sir William-Stirling-Maxwell, and became the basis for this facsimile. The original is preserved in the Hunterian Library in Glasgow. Besides these, a handful of separate plates exist. Because of the absolute rarity of the original it was evident to Stirling-Maxwell that virtually no one since Vesalius' time had seen the original edition, so he decided to publish a facsimile. However, Stirling-Maxwell clearly did not anticipate wide interest in the publication, as he issued only 30 copies. Peculiarly, throughout this very rare edition Stirling-Maxwell refers to the author as "Andrew Vesalius."
In the Tabulae Anatomicae Sex we observe the beginning of Vesalius' attempt to reform the teaching of anatomy. He received his medical degree at Padua on December 5, 1537, at the age of 23, and in one of the fastest academic promotions in history, was appointed Professor of Surgery at Padua on the following day. The appointment required that he teach anatomy. Soon thereafter Vesalius must have begun his collaboration with the artist Jan Stefan van Calcar, since the six oversize broadsides, which resemble fugitive sheets, were published in Venice in 1538. Vesalius made the drawings for the portal, caval and arterial systems. Van Calcar drew the other three from a skeleton that Vesalius articulated. It is from this publication alone that we have record of Vesalius' collaboration with van Calcar. Van Calcar probably also paid for the publication since on the shield of the sheet with the skeleton drawn from behind we read, in translation: "Printed at Venice by B. Vitali, Venetian, at the expense of Jan Stefan van Calcar. For sale in the shop of D. Bernardus. In the year 1538." At the bottom of the sheet are three privileges, from the Pope, the Emperor, and the Venetian Senate, prohibiting others from printing or selling copies of these plates. In spite of these efforts to avoid plagiarism and piracy these sheets would be widely copied. Vesalius, however, did not have them reprinted. Instead he put out a pocket edition of Guenther von Andernach's Institutionum Anatomicarum, from the same publisher in 1538. This small, unillustrated work would have been intended to accompany the Tabulae Anatomicae Sex. In the following year Vesalius issued his venesection letter from Basel. Soon thereafter Vesalius began work on the Fabrica. Cushing II.-2[B]; Garrison-Morton 372.
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LIMITED EDITION, one of 30 copies only of this first facsimile edition of Vesalius' first anatomical publication originally issued in Venice in 1538. A set of six oversized broadsides, the Tabulae Anatomicae Sex were designed to be mounted on the wall for reference during dissections, and as a result, only two complete copies of the original printings of the six oversized anatomical plates survived. One set is in the Bibliotheca Nazionale Marciana of Venice. The other was purchased in 1857 by Sir William-Stirling-Maxwell, and became the basis for this facsimile. The original is preserved in the Hunterian Library in Glasgow. Besides these, a handful of separate plates exist. Because of the absolute rarity of the original it was evident to Stirling-Maxwell that virtually no one since Vesalius' time had seen the original edition, so he decided to publish a facsimile. However, Stirling-Maxwell clearly did not anticipate wide interest in the publication, as he issued only 30 copies. Peculiarly, throughout this very rare edition Stirling-Maxwell refers to the author as "Andrew Vesalius."
In the Tabulae Anatomicae Sex we observe the beginning of Vesalius' attempt to reform the teaching of anatomy. He received his medical degree at Padua on December 5, 1537, at the age of 23, and in one of the fastest academic promotions in history, was appointed Professor of Surgery at Padua on the following day. The appointment required that he teach anatomy. Soon thereafter Vesalius must have begun his collaboration with the artist Jan Stefan van Calcar, since the six oversize broadsides, which resemble fugitive sheets, were published in Venice in 1538. Vesalius made the drawings for the portal, caval and arterial systems. Van Calcar drew the other three from a skeleton that Vesalius articulated. It is from this publication alone that we have record of Vesalius' collaboration with van Calcar. Van Calcar probably also paid for the publication since on the shield of the sheet with the skeleton drawn from behind we read, in translation: "Printed at Venice by B. Vitali, Venetian, at the expense of Jan Stefan van Calcar. For sale in the shop of D. Bernardus. In the year 1538." At the bottom of the sheet are three privileges, from the Pope, the Emperor, and the Venetian Senate, prohibiting others from printing or selling copies of these plates. In spite of these efforts to avoid plagiarism and piracy these sheets would be widely copied. Vesalius, however, did not have them reprinted. Instead he put out a pocket edition of Guenther von Andernach's Institutionum Anatomicarum, from the same publisher in 1538. This small, unillustrated work would have been intended to accompany the Tabulae Anatomicae Sex. In the following year Vesalius issued his venesection letter from Basel. Soon thereafter Vesalius began work on the Fabrica. Cushing II.-2[B]; Garrison-Morton 372.