![BERENGARIO DA CARPI, Giacomo (1470-1530). Isagoge breves perlucide ac uberime in anatomiam humani corporis. Bologna: Benedict Hector, 30 December 1522. [With:] 9 pages of manuscript notes on anatomical subjects by Leopoldo Caldani.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_14998_0171_003(berengario_da_carpi_giacomo_isagoge_breves_perlucide_ac_uberime_in_ana042730).jpg?w=1)
![BERENGARIO DA CARPI, Giacomo (1470-1530). Isagoge breves perlucide ac uberime in anatomiam humani corporis. Bologna: Benedict Hector, 30 December 1522. [With:] 9 pages of manuscript notes on anatomical subjects by Leopoldo Caldani.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_14998_0171_001(berengario_da_carpi_giacomo_isagoge_breves_perlucide_ac_uberime_in_ana042730).jpg?w=1)
![BERENGARIO DA CARPI, Giacomo (1470-1530). Isagoge breves perlucide ac uberime in anatomiam humani corporis. Bologna: Benedict Hector, 30 December 1522. [With:] 9 pages of manuscript notes on anatomical subjects by Leopoldo Caldani.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_14998_0171_002(berengario_da_carpi_giacomo_isagoge_breves_perlucide_ac_uberime_in_ana042730).jpg?w=1)
![BERENGARIO DA CARPI, Giacomo (1470-1530). Isagoge breves perlucide ac uberime in anatomiam humani corporis. Bologna: Benedict Hector, 30 December 1522. [With:] 9 pages of manuscript notes on anatomical subjects by Leopoldo Caldani.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_14998_0171_000(berengario_da_carpi_giacomo_isagoge_breves_perlucide_ac_uberime_in_ana100846).jpg?w=1)
Details
BERENGARIO DA CARPI, Giacomo (1470-1530). Isagoge breves perlucide ac uberime in anatomiam humani corporis. Bologna: Benedict Hector, 30 December 1522. [With:] 9 pages of manuscript notes on anatomical subjects by Leopoldo Caldani.
The first edition of the most important pre-Vesalian anatomical book, from the library of 18th-century anatomist Leopoldo Caldani. The surgeon Berengario da Carpi preceded Vesalius by two decades, producing a marvelously illustrated guide to dissection which was the first to truly marry the precise observations of the anatomist with the Renaissance tradition of book illustration. His woodcuts place flayed and skeletal figures in domestic interiors and outdoor landscapes, expressing scientific knowledge in the allegorical language of the Danse macabre—and possibly incorporating details from da Vinci’s unpublished anatomical drawings. The first edition has not appeared at auction since the Norman copy in 1998. Heirs of Hippocrates 94; Norman 188; Sappol 97-101; Wellcome I 782.
Quarto (215 x 150mm). Title in woodcut border, 20 woodcut anatomical illustrations, printer’s device on colophon (repair to corner of title page affecting woodcut border, dampstain to first 2 gatherings, closed tear on f. 34). 18th-century vellum-backed boards, label with title on spine (text block cracked, edges lightly bumped). Provenance: Leopoldo Caldani (1725-1813, a well known Bolognese anatomist and professor of anatomy at Padua; signature on upper board as well as manuscript notes).
The first edition of the most important pre-Vesalian anatomical book, from the library of 18th-century anatomist Leopoldo Caldani. The surgeon Berengario da Carpi preceded Vesalius by two decades, producing a marvelously illustrated guide to dissection which was the first to truly marry the precise observations of the anatomist with the Renaissance tradition of book illustration. His woodcuts place flayed and skeletal figures in domestic interiors and outdoor landscapes, expressing scientific knowledge in the allegorical language of the Danse macabre—and possibly incorporating details from da Vinci’s unpublished anatomical drawings. The first edition has not appeared at auction since the Norman copy in 1998. Heirs of Hippocrates 94; Norman 188; Sappol 97-101; Wellcome I 782.
Quarto (215 x 150mm). Title in woodcut border, 20 woodcut anatomical illustrations, printer’s device on colophon (repair to corner of title page affecting woodcut border, dampstain to first 2 gatherings, closed tear on f. 34). 18th-century vellum-backed boards, label with title on spine (text block cracked, edges lightly bumped). Provenance: Leopoldo Caldani (1725-1813, a well known Bolognese anatomist and professor of anatomy at Padua; signature on upper board as well as manuscript notes).