BARCLAY, John (1758-1826). A Series of Engravings representing the Bones of the Human Skeleton with the Skeletons of some of the Lower Animals. Edinburgh: printed for E. Mitchell, 1819-1820.
BARCLAY, John (1758-1826). A Series of Engravings representing the Bones of the Human Skeleton with the Skeletons of some of the Lower Animals. Edinburgh: printed for E. Mitchell, 1819-1820.

细节
BARCLAY, John (1758-1826). A Series of Engravings representing the Bones of the Human Skeleton with the Skeletons of some of the Lower Animals. Edinburgh: printed for E. Mitchell, 1819-1820.

2 volumes in one, 2o (varying sizes: 353 x 261 mm and 363 x 261 mm). 36 engraved plates (32 numbered and 4 additional plates). Contemporary blind-stamped calf (rebacked). Provenance: John Barclay, the author (bookplate); David Nector (gift inscription on preliminary blank from his nephew, John Nector).

FIRST EDITION, THE AUTHOR'S COPY. The work was published in two parts, part one being issued in slightly smaller format. Barclay was one of the most distinguished teachers of anatomy in Edinburgh during the first decades of the 19th century. He taught mostly at his private anatomy school from 1797 until 1825. During the winter sessions Barclay taught anatomy, physiology and surgery, while in the summer sessions he taught comparative anatomy. When Barclay retired from teaching his classes were taken over by his partner Robert Knox, who would later gain notoriety and ruin as a purchaser of bodies from resurrectionists/criminals Burke & Hare. Most of the plates for this work were based on prior atlases, and the source is given in the heading of each plate: Albinus for human standing skeletons, horses from George Stubbs, most images of bones from Sue's French translation of Monro's osteology. The last three unnumbered plates are a prospectus for a work on vertebrate skeletons which Mitchell never published, including a striking image of an elephant with a skeleton elephant driver, or mahout.