PBA Galleries

[10] 130, xiii [3] pp. (Folio) 55.5x39.5 cm (21¾x15") original white goatskin and boards, five raised bands, bound by Frieda Thiersch, clamshell box. No. 71 of 615 copies.

"The publication of this large and beautiful volume of original wood blocks from Vesalius' Fabrica, Epitome, and Tabulae anatomicae sex was a joint project of the New York Academy of Medicine and the Library of the University of Munich where the wood blocks had been preserved. Of the 277 illustrations reproduced in the work, 227 are from the original blocks with the remaining fifty being reproduced photographically. No changes or improvements were made in any of the blocks, and they were reproduced just as they were and printed on paper "specially made from the best hempen fibres." The only exception was a block from the Epitome which had to be restored to supply a hand which had been damaged on the original block. Vesalius' letter to the printer is included and it explains the order and arrangement of the wood blocks. In addition, that part of the text explaining the symbols used in the figures and illustrations has also been reprinted. This was the last time that these wood blocks--which had been preserved for nearly four hundred years--were ever used; they were destroyed during World War II as a result of Allied bombing raids." (Heirs of Hippocrates). Cushing V110; Cushing Vesalius VI.A.-16; Waller 9907; Heirs of Hippocrates 289.