Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 283

ANDREAS VESALIUS (1514-1564) De humani corporis fabrica libri septem. Per Joannem Oporinum [1555] [2nd folio ed.]. [12] 824 [48] pp., illus., 171 plates (2 fold.), port. 41.3 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 280

In 1552, a small "pocket" edition of the Fabrica was pirated in Lyons but, as it had no illustrations, it was neither popular nor profitable. For that matter, neither the first nor the second splendid folio edition was profitable, either, and the printer, Oporinus, suffered losses on both. By the time of this second folio edition, the plates from the first edition had been copied in England and throughout Europe, and the prospect for sale of a new edition must have been considerably lessened. Even so, the new edition was even more lavish than the first, with heavier paper and larger type, necessitating an entire recutting of the initial letters. Corrections were made in the text by Vesalius with some rearrangement of both the text and the illustrations. The woodcut title page has always created much interest. It carries considerable dramatic impact and probably fairly represents, with some theatrical touches, an "anatomy" of the sixteenth century. The block for the second edition was entirely recut and, although it closely resembles that of the first edition, there are a few changes. The unclothed man of the first edition, observing from his perch at the left, is clothed in the second edition, "for no other reason that one can see," comments Cushing, "unless to save the nun's embarrassment by clothing the naked figure" (Cushing Vesalius, p. 90). The wood blocks were cut in Venice and transported by mule across the Alps to Basel, where Oporinus--artist, printer, and friend of Vesalius--received them with detailed instructions from the author.

Cited references: Choulant-Frank, pp. 181-182; Cushing V78; Cushing Vesalius VI.A.-3; Durling 4579; Garrison-Morton 377; Osler 568; Waller 9901; Wellcome 6562

Gift of John Martin, M.D.