[8], 267, [1], 84 pp. With 2 leaves of copper-engraved plates. [bound with] Becker, Daniel. Medicus microcosmus seu Spagyria Microscosmi tripo auctior & correctior, exhibens Medicinam Corpore Hominis... [16], 170, [6] pp. Leiden: Jacob Marci, 1633. Together, 2 volumes bound in 1. (4to) 18.6x13 cm (7¼x5¼"), old vellum; custom clamshell box.
Third edition of William Harvey groundbreaking work on circulation of the blood, following on the 1628 first edition, and actually the second complete edition, as the 1635 edition was without parts of the introduction, chapters I and XVI, and the plates. Heirs to Hippocrates lauds Harvey and his place in medical science in the description for the extremely rare first edition: "There is probably no name better known in the history of medicine than that of William Harvey. An Englishman, educated at Cambridge and then at Padua when Fabricius was in the chair of anatomy, Harvey returned to London and set up in practice. In 1615 he was made professor of anatomy and surgery at the College of Physicians. By 1616 he was well on his way toward perfecting his theory of the circulation of the blood, publishing his findings in this unimposing little book, 'An anatomical disquisition concerning the motion of the heart and blood,' usually called just De motu cordis. Many authorities consider it to be the most important book in the history of medicine. What Vesalius was to anatomy, Harvey was to physiology; the whole scientific outlook on the human body was transformed, and behind almost every important medical advance in modern times lies the work of Harvey. Because of its importance in the development of medicine and the book's inability to stand the ravages of time, the first edition of this book has become one of the greatest rarities and today only seventy known copies remain. De motu cordis was printed on inferior paper and often poorly bound, which hastened the deterioration of the book." Cushing H144; Garrison-Morton 759 (1st ed., 1628); Keynes 3; Osler 692 (1st ed.); Russell 352; Waller 4089; Wellcome 3070. With etched bookplate of Joan Wilhelm Stoll, 1796; and later armorial bookplate. Ownership markings on title-page, dated 1722 and 1838.
Condition:
Some soiling to covers, stain to rear board; some light foxing a occasional soilmarks to contents, very good or better.