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ANTOMMARCHI, Francesco (1780?-1838). Planches anatomiques du corps humain executees d'apres les dimensions naturelle. Paris: Lasteyrie, 1825.
2o (620 x 503 mm). 2 double-page printed titles within lithographic borders and 83 (of 84?) double-page lithographic plates (including 35 plates in 2 states). (Title and last plate torn and repaired.) 20th century red half morocco and marbled boards.
FIRST EDITION, published under Antommarchi's name. Mascagni spent an enormous amount of his time, energy and money in the production of his Anatomia Universa, which occupied Antonio Serantoni for many years, first in the production of wax models from Mascagni's injected specimens, and then converting all the detailed three-dimensional information on the models to two-dimensional drawings, and engraving the drawings on very large copperplates. Along with the anatomy for artists, which Antommarchi edited after Mascagni's death, there was also Mascagni's Prodromo della Grande Anatomia, which Antommarchi edited for publication in 1819. However, Mascagni's heirs quarreled with Antommarchi over money, which was supposed to have reverted to Mascagni's estate from the sale of his books. In early 1819 Antommarchi left Italy to become Napoleon's physician on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic where Napoleon was imprisoned, taking with him copies of the Prodromo and impressions of about thirty plates of the Anatomia Universa. In 1822, a year after Napoleon's death, Antommachi went to Paris, most likely for the purpose of publishing the Mascagni plates. According to Robert and Tomlinson, "[Antonmarchi] met with the Comte de Lasteyrie, one of the two founders of lithography in France, and together they decided to reproduce the Universal Anatomy in lithography, copying the figures from the impressions Antommarchi had taken when he left for St. Helena. The work proceeded quickly, for they knew from a prospectus that the official Universal Anatomy was to start publication, as it did, the next year, 1823... Remarkably, the first of a total of fifteen parts was ready in Paris also in 1823, demonstrating the clear advantage of lithography in terms of speed--an engraver making new plates would have completed the task in years, not months. The first part of the Parisian edition was for sale actually earlier than that of the Pisan edition, and the former completed publication by 1826, while the latter was not complete until 1832. The plates in the two editions are not exactly the same, since in both changes had been made to the original designs; Antommarchi had prepared a few entirely new plates. The size of the pages and images in the two editions was similar"(Roberts & Tomlinson, pp. 391-92).
Antommarchi's version of the atlas was issued in 15 parts between 1823 and 1826 by the lithographic press of the Comte de Lasteyrie. Some copies were hand-colored. Writing in 1852, Choulant indicated that the huge work was still available from the publisher uncolored for 375 francs and colored for 1050 francs, making it "far less expensive than Mascagni's work," which conceivably was also obtainable from the publishers at that time. A companion text volume entitled Explication des planches anatomiques du corps humain (1826) is not present here. The first part of the pirated lithograph edition appeared before that of the official engraved edition, thus the first few plates of the pirated edition, though subtly different, may technically be considered the first published versions of the images. RARE. Choulant-Frank pp. 319-20; Roberts & Tomlinson, pp. 384-96; Twyman, Lithography 1800-1850, pp. 50-52.
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FIRST EDITION, published under Antommarchi's name. Mascagni spent an enormous amount of his time, energy and money in the production of his Anatomia Universa, which occupied Antonio Serantoni for many years, first in the production of wax models from Mascagni's injected specimens, and then converting all the detailed three-dimensional information on the models to two-dimensional drawings, and engraving the drawings on very large copperplates. Along with the anatomy for artists, which Antommarchi edited after Mascagni's death, there was also Mascagni's Prodromo della Grande Anatomia, which Antommarchi edited for publication in 1819. However, Mascagni's heirs quarreled with Antommarchi over money, which was supposed to have reverted to Mascagni's estate from the sale of his books. In early 1819 Antommarchi left Italy to become Napoleon's physician on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic where Napoleon was imprisoned, taking with him copies of the Prodromo and impressions of about thirty plates of the Anatomia Universa. In 1822, a year after Napoleon's death, Antommachi went to Paris, most likely for the purpose of publishing the Mascagni plates. According to Robert and Tomlinson, "[Antonmarchi] met with the Comte de Lasteyrie, one of the two founders of lithography in France, and together they decided to reproduce the Universal Anatomy in lithography, copying the figures from the impressions Antommarchi had taken when he left for St. Helena. The work proceeded quickly, for they knew from a prospectus that the official Universal Anatomy was to start publication, as it did, the next year, 1823... Remarkably, the first of a total of fifteen parts was ready in Paris also in 1823, demonstrating the clear advantage of lithography in terms of speed--an engraver making new plates would have completed the task in years, not months. The first part of the Parisian edition was for sale actually earlier than that of the Pisan edition, and the former completed publication by 1826, while the latter was not complete until 1832. The plates in the two editions are not exactly the same, since in both changes had been made to the original designs; Antommarchi had prepared a few entirely new plates. The size of the pages and images in the two editions was similar"(Roberts & Tomlinson, pp. 391-92).
Antommarchi's version of the atlas was issued in 15 parts between 1823 and 1826 by the lithographic press of the Comte de Lasteyrie. Some copies were hand-colored. Writing in 1852, Choulant indicated that the huge work was still available from the publisher uncolored for 375 francs and colored for 1050 francs, making it "far less expensive than Mascagni's work," which conceivably was also obtainable from the publishers at that time. A companion text volume entitled Explication des planches anatomiques du corps humain (1826) is not present here. The first part of the pirated lithograph edition appeared before that of the official engraved edition, thus the first few plates of the pirated edition, though subtly different, may technically be considered the first published versions of the images. RARE. Choulant-Frank pp. 319-20; Roberts & Tomlinson, pp. 384-96; Twyman, Lithography 1800-1850, pp. 50-52.