pdf - Roger Gaskell Rare Books

‘The present work is his most important contribution and was popular as
a textbook for a number of years. Vesling aimed to explain the parts of the
body as they were encountered during dissection and to avoid discussion of
theoretical matters in order not to create confusion. However, he departed
from his stated purpose to give a clear picture of the circulation of the blood
and action of the heart based on Harvey’s research.’ (Heirs of Hippocrates
p. 177.)
The illustrations ‘were intended for the commonest needs but are mostly
original engravings and represent some organs of the body more correctly than
their predecessors. They were very popular at the time of their appearance and
have been frequently re­engraved’ (Choulant­Frank p. 243). The engraved
title­page depicts the anatomy theatre at Padua; it is signed ‘Jo. Georgius
sculp.’ and has Frambotti’s imprint dated 1647; the portrait, also by Georgius,
shows Vesling aged 48; and the plates are also by him, signed ‘GG’ or ‘G Georgi
fecit’.
Vesling came from a German Catholic family who Xed to Vienna to
escape religious persecution. He attended secondary school and studied
medicine at Venice and Leiden, then taught anatomy in Venice where his
lectures and anatomical demonstrations became so famous that students
from Padua travelled to Venice to hear him. He went to Egypt as physician
to Alvise Cornaro in 1628 and returned to Italy in 1633 to take up the chair
of anatomy at Padua.
The Wrst edition of 1641, in 8vo, was unillustrated and has a slightly
diVerent title, Syntagma anatomicum publicis dissectionibus, in auditorum usum,
diligenter aptatum. The present edition is a reprint of the 1647 edition, with the
same pagination and using the same plates. All three of these editions were
published by Paolo Frambotti at Padua. The 1641 edition was reprinted as
a duodecimo at Frankfurt in the same year; and a piracy of the 1647 edition
was published by Janssonius at Amsterdam in that year. In addition, the
Wellcome library has a page for page reprint with Frambotti’s imprint, with
the errata corrected but omitting the privileges and portrait, which could be
another piracy.
182
VIEuSSENS, Raymond (1641?–1715)
Neurographia universalis. Hoc est omnium corporis humani
nervorum simul & cerebri, medullaeque spinalis descriptio anatomica;
eaque integra et accurata, variis iconibus Wdeliter & ad vivum
delineatis, aeréque incisis illustrata: cum ipsorum actione et usu,
physico discursu explicatis, editio nova.
Lyon: Lugduni Apud Joannem Certe, in vico Mercatorio sub signo
Trinitatis, 1684.
Folio: ã 4 e˜ 4 A–2H 4 2I 2 a1, 135 leaves, pp. [16] 252 [2]. Errata on last
2 pages. Title printed in red and black with an engraved device signed
‘MB’; woodcut headpieces and initials. 8 engravings printed in the text
(Tabs IX, X, XIV–XVII, XXII, XXX).