Andreas VESALIUS (1514-1564) . . . de Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem. Basel. Joannis Oporinus, 1555.
The second edition of the Fabrica is considered the most elegant printing of this work. The first appearance of this atlas (1543) revolutionized our understanding of the human body by presenting human anatomy as observed through dissection and not as it was viewed through Galenistic doctrine. For the first time the body was presented in systems - skeletal, muscular, nervous system and the like and made visible by the brilliant woodcuts of the school of Titian and Jean of Calcar.
Our copy is bound in a 16th century style sheepskin binding designed by Jan Sobota. It was given to the Cleveland Medical Library Association by Howard Kelly of Baltimore to be the first book in our library's collection. There are many other editions of the Fabrica in our anatomical collections. Rarest and most interesting perhaps is the pirated edition printed in London in 1545 by Thomas Geminus. Geminus copied the woodcuts onto copper engravings for the English market thus bringing the "new anatomy" and its revolutionary ideas to England within two years after its original publication. |
