Vesaliana

HISTORY OF THIS LIST
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, due to their vast number, it has become virtually impossible to list, let alone to
collect, all existing Vesaliana. Others have previously pointed out this problem. Ten years
ago, their number was already huge. ZANOBIO noted that on the occasion of every Vesalius
anniversary or celebration, the literature about the great anatomist still grows considerably.
Internet searching of his name shows ten thousands sites, with numbers still increasing. This
must be explained by the lasting and immense popularity of Vesalius.
Today’s most used and best known list of Vesaliana is that of Harvey CUSHING in
chapter X of the second edition (1962) of his Vesalius bio-bibliography (1). Before Cushing
the only detailed Vesalius bibliography was that of F.M.G. DE FEYFER, forming the basis of
his work (2). CUSHING (1962) gives two separate and complementary lists, each starting with
the letter ‘A’, but with a continuous numbering. The first list, with 433 references, dates from
the first edition of 1943 and is his. The second one contains 295 addenda by C.D. O’MALLEY.
THE LIST
Vesalius publications are divided into works by Vesalius, or re-issues of them, and of works
about Vesalius, the so-called Vesaliana. Newly discovered editions of Vesalius’s works or
new publications (Opera Vesalii) are, as a matter of fact, additions to the existent
bibliographies of H. CUSHING and of Elly COCKX-INDESTEGE. They are not included in the
present list, except when they are accompanied by a relevant commentary with a Vesalianum
status. Vesaliana are publications dealing - in part or in total - with Vesalius or his work. For
those that could not be consulted the source is mentioned at the end of the entry between
parenthesis (Cushing 1962) or brackets [later ones].
Some remarks
In the first edition of 1943, at the end of chapter X, eighteen more titles are added in a newly
started alphabetical order but with numbers continuing up to 451. As O’Malley started his
numbering with 434 and incorporated all of them into his list, there was no need for any
correction. Attention to this is drawn by mentionning the original Cushing number in the few
annotations concerned.
The names in Cushing’s list are left unchanged, with the exception of GALEN whose
name is rendered in Latin as ‘GALENUS’ to fit with the new added entries. In contrast with the
present notation, Dr. Cushing sometimes placed a prefix as ‘del’ àfter the root of the name,
e.g. ‘GAIZO del’ instead of ‘DEL GAIZO’. One has to keep this in mind within an alphabetical
search. Attention to this is drawn by the addition of an entry and referencing to it, e.g. ‘GAIZO,
Modestino del. See DEL GAIZO, 443 etc.’. As in most modern indexes and directories the
Scottish and Irish Gaelic prefixes ‘Mac’, ‘Mc’ and ‘M’ are listed together. Care should also
be taken with the fact that ‘Ö’ stands for ‘OE’ and ‘Ü’ for ‘UE’ so for instance "MÜNTZ
Eugène" precedes "MULS, G.".
iv