The Illustrations from the Works of Andreas Vesalius of Brussels

by J.B. Saunders, Charles O'Malley (Editor)

The works of Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) have long been regarded among the great treasures of the Renaissance. Published as medical books while he was teaching anatomy and dissection at the University of Padua, they include the Tabulae Sex (1538), intended as an aid to students; the magnificently illustrated De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543), and the companion volume, the Epitome (1543). Individually, these books are milestones in the history of medicine. They also offer one of the most magnificent collections of anatomical drawings ever published. The plates were executed with such vitality and originality that they have been attributed to the most talented illustrators of the sixteenth century, not to mention Vesalius himself. Many of the drawings, in fact, were products of Titian's famous atelier.
For this edition of the Vesalius illustrations, Dover has combined the best existing plates and text. The illustrations have been reproduced from the sumptuous (1934) Munich edition of Vesalius titled Icones Anatomicae . The Munich plates were struck for the most part from the original wood blocks then in the collection of the Library of the University of Munich. These priceless art objects were destroyed in the bombing of Munich during World War II. Aside from the original copies of the woodcuts (of which only a few complete sets are known), the Munich restrikes are the best representations of the Vesalian anatomical drawings, for they preserve much of the freshness and richness of the 1543 edition.
The text of this Dover edition has been faithfully reproduced from an edition of Vesalius published by World Publishing Company in 1950. The editors, distinguished authorities on sixteenth-century medicine, have provided a very comprehensive history of Vesalius, his career, and excellent explanations of the legends surrounding the illustrators, artists, and publishers involved with the production of his books. No other source will provide the general reader, bibliophile, art historian, artist, or historian of science and medicine with such complete data on Vesalius and his fabulous anatomical illustrations.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Science, Medicine, History Of Medicine

407 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1950

Reviews

[J.]

Clever edition (on a great paper stock!) which collects Vesalius' illustrations from the Fabrica, the Epitome, the Venesection Letter, and the Tabulae Sex in one convenient volume. The abridged notes are to the point; the introduction was incredibly useful, as were other notes throughout. Fascinating for artists and parties interested in the history of medicine, alike.

[Mephistopheles]

Wonderful resource! The illustrations are marvelous, useful, and justifiably famous. The sections showing progressive dissection of the human body were particularly good.

[Robert Johnson]

This review/preview is for the intro:

The history and context of how these etchings came into existence is just as - if not more - interesting as the plates themselves. Saunders and O'malley's introduction offers a short humanistic portrayal of Vesalius's academic, professional and personal life.
The addition of Vesalius's journal helps provide the reader with indispensable insight into the artists mindset ( e.g. dylan like figure who recorded his thoughts/observations with the purpose of sharing his findings through etchings>publishing and through oft packed human dissection demonstrations at open air theaters).

Quote:
"while out walking, looking for bones on the highway...I happend upon a dried cadaver. "After I brought the legs and arms home in secret and successive trips (...), I allowed myself to be shut out of the city in the evening in order to obtain the thorax which was firmly held by a chain [attached to a gibbet]. "I was burning with so great a desire...that I was not afraid to snatch it in the middle of the night..."

The purpose of using these cadavers as models was somewhat revolutionary for the time. Human dissection had yet to enter academic life as a common practice, so the body (and how to relieve pain) was not well understood. With the assistance of publishing visual and textual observations, Vesalius's influence on how we understand the human body can't be underestimated. I found it interesting that Vesalius enlisted other artists (some students of Titan) to draft some of these plates, as their style remains almost indiscernibly constant.

As one who relied on empirical understanding rather than blindly following established dogmas, Vesalius faced a lot of criticism and strained relationships with his comfortable superiors. Ultimately he persevered in believing that his work was worth the rejection and discomfort. If nothing else, this is historical reinforcement to ask questions and doubt the answers given.

As I originally purchased the book to study the plates, the short bio was very a inspiring surprise. I look forward to reading more about him.

[Daniel]

It's editions like these that make Dover one of my favorite publishing companies. I don't have the learning or patience to read Vesalius' De Humani Corporis Fabrica in the original, so this abridged and concisely introduced volume was a wonderful find. The woodcuts are breathtaking, and Vesalius determination to understand the body (even when it appears to contradict the sacrosanct Galenic account) is is both admirable and moving. Finally, in Vesalius' 1543 magnum opus (published the same year as Copernicus' "On the Revolution of the Heavenly Orbs"), we have the serendipitous synthesis of typographical innovation, artistic realism, institutional leniency (as far as the church's leniency toward dissection goes) & intellectual skepticism that made this work possible, and that helped us to imagine the human body in an entirely new way.

[A]

This copy was published by The World Publishing Company, Cleveland and New York, in 1950.

The sub-title is: WITH ANNOTATIONS AND TRANSLATIONS, A DISCUSSION OF THE PLATES AND THEIR BACKGROUND, AUTHORSHIP AND INFLUENCE, AND A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF VESALIUS by J.B. deC. M. Saunders, University of California and Charles D. O'Malley, Stanford University

There are lots of beautiful black and white line drawings from the First and Second books of the DE HUMANI CORPORIS FABRICA.

The quality of the paper is much better than the Dover Publications reproductions.

This is a beautiful resource for people who love anatomy and black and white drawings.

[Cynthia]

You can't beat the creepiness factor of this book. That, combined with the outstanding reference of anatomy this provides for an artist, makes it a must have for those who draw people.