Anatomia

1793 · ref. ST20586 — Lugduni Batavorum Leyden: S. & J. Luchtmans 1793 1827 1835. FIRST EDITION A COMPLETE SET. 525 x 350 mm. 20 3/4 x 14". Four volumes. First two volumes in contemporary cat's paw calf volumes III and IV in contemporary flamed calf raised bands spines gilt in compartments with central fleuron one red and one black morocco label. WITH 206 ENGRAVED ANATOMICAL PLATES all with guards. Front pastedowns with bookplate of Harvard Medical School Library; library shelf markings in white at bottom of spines; bookseller's ticket of Schönhof & Mueller Foreign Books Boston. Bibliotheca Walleriana 8549; Choulant pp. 312-13; Larousse XIX vol. 14 p. 171. Lucas L. Boer Peter L. J. Boek Andries J. van Dam and Roelof-Jan Oostra "History and highlights of the teratological collection in the Museum Anatomicum of Leiden University The Netherlands " American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A Volume 176 no. 3 2018 pp. 618-37. Shallow chips across the tail of first two volumes covers variably abraded one noticeably so corners somewhat worn partially with boards showing through vague additional signs of wear but the bindings solid and retaining much of their original appeal; plates in first two volumes with faint overall browning either because of paper stock or because of contact with guards a handful of trivial tears but all in all an extremely pleasing set the plates in volume IV very clean and bright and the plates elsewhere and the wide-margined text clean and fresh throughout. This is an extremely scarce complete set of a very substantially proportioned anatomical work with more than 200 striking giant folio engravings that emphasize birth defects and that range from clinically cheerless to heartbreaking. A physician and professor of anatomy at Leyden Eduard Sandifort 1742-1814 was commissioned by the University and the city council to publish this account of the school's anatomical collections with a focus on pathological anatomy including especially congenital abnormalities. After the publication of the first two volumes in 1793 the third and fourth were issued following Sandifort's death by his son Gerard 1779-1848 who followed in his father's professorial footsteps in Leyden. The first second and fourth volume are illustrated with copperplate engravings which Larousse tell us make this book "one of the most beautiful works of this genre" though "beautiful" needs to be understood here to mean "convincing" or "compelling" rather than aesthetically appealing. The first volume concludes with nine full-size depictions of skulls; the illustrations in the second and fourth are of a more affecting nature consisting of malformed bodies and body parts damaged or destroyed by disease and birth defects. The engravings of the conjoined twins in these volumes are especially powerful--consisting of poignant even haunting images showing undeserving victims of pronounced congenital defects though some are softened with a touch of the fanciful in their presentation. The thoroughness and accuracy of the work is so great that it remains of scholarly value even today. A recent study by Dutch curators and anatomical scholars Lucas L. Boer Peter L. J. Boek Andries J. van Dam and Roelof-Jan Oostra used "Museum Anatomicum" as a guide to identify and re-diagnose the University's historic teratological collections noting that "many historically made diagnoses could not be improved upon after re-diagnosing the specimens with contemporary dysmorphological knowledge actually confirming that these old collectors were perhaps the first dysmorphologists and can be seen as true pioneers in the field of teratology." Although single volumes and incomplete sets of this work come on the market with some regularity we have been able to trace only five complete sets at auction since 1872. And ours especially fresh and wide-margined in pleasing contemporary calf is a particularly attractive specimen. S. & J. Luchtmans unknown books