Catalogue - Bauman Rare Books

22
new acquisitions in a ll Fields | autumn 2012 | a n opening selection
charles bell
“Among The Most Beautiful [Plates] In Neuroanatomy”: First Edition Of Bell’s Illustrated
Anatomy Of The Brain, 1802, With 12 Splendid Aquatint Plates, Eleven Hand-Colored
13. BELL, Charles. The Anatomy of the Brain. London, 1802. Quarto, contemporary three-quarter mottled tan calf gilt;
pp. 87. $12,000.
First edition of Scottish surgeon Sir Charles Bell’s Anatomy of the Brain, featuring 12 aquatint anatomical plates (eleven
hand-colored)—“engraved by Thomas Medland after Bell’s own drawings… probably Bell’s most beautiful work on
neuroanatomy and one of the most beautifully illustrated in the entire literature”—most scarce in contemporary calf and
marbled boards.
In this scarce first edition of Anatomy of the Brain, Bell “displays both his descriptive and artistic capabilities. The 12 aquatint
plates (eleven of them hand-colored) were engraved by Thomas Medland after Bell’s own drawings and constitute what is
probably Bell’s most beautiful work on neuroanatomy and one of the most beautifully illustrated in the entire literature” (Heirs
of Hippocrates 1297). Moving to London in 1804, Bell “developed his experimental techniques involving the peripheral nerves
in order to discover how the brain functions… Bell introduced new methods of determining the functional anatomy of the
nervous system… His techniques and observations led to Johannes Müller’s generalizations on the sensory functions of the
nervous system… Bell’s great discovery was that there are two kinds of nerves, sensory and motor,” and his “systems of anatomy,
dissections and surgery still stand unrivaled for facility of expression, elegance of style and accuracy of description” (DNB;
Chouland, 343). Bell’s plates in Anatomy of the Brain “are among the most beautiful in neuroanatomy. Plate I is important for
its accurate portrayal of the cerebral gyri… Plates I-X were engraved in colors as well as colored by hand” (Norman 168). Waller
860. Small numerical inkstamp to rear pastedown. Text and plates very fresh with lightest scattered foxing, slight edge-wear,
mild rubbing to boards. A very handsome near-fine copy.