Caption: "Vesalius, Anatomy, 'The greatest medical book ever written' - Sir William Osler, printed by Johannes Oporinus, Basle, 1555. In the year 1540, at the age of twenty-five, Andreas Vesalius, the founder of modern anatomy, planned this work on anatomy, generally known as the Fabrica from the title De Humani Corporis Fabrica. This title was given this study because Vesalius considered 'the human body a perfect fabric conceived by the creator and achieved by the supreme artist, Nature.' 'Here are collected,' states Dr. Arturo Castiglioni, 'the experiences of a teacher who understands the necessity of performing dissections accurately, not according to classical books, but according to critical observations and individual findings.' Vesalius, the gallant fighter, courageously attacked the scholastic doctrines from the time of Galen to his own teacher, Sylvius. After this book was issued, a physician no longer had to be primarily a philosopher, able to discuss health and disease in syllogistic form and with the help of classic quotations. Vesalius enlisted the service of Titian’s brilliant pupil Stephen van Calcar, also an ardent anatomist. Calcar’s illustrations are the finest that have appeared in any medical book and have only been excelled by the anatomical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. The delightful woodcut initials, with the animated putti, in a subtle way supplement the anatomic plates. These initials are also supposed to have been designed by the celebrated Calcar. The printer Johannes Oporinus, who assumed this Latin name from the German ‘Herbst,’ was one of the most brilliant scholars of his time. His folio editions of the Fabrica, (the first issued in 1543, and this second edition in 1555), are masterpieces of printing. The second edition, printed in a larger font of Garamond type, with added illustrations, is considered the finer issue of ‘one of the greatest books of the Renaissance’ for text as well as format.”
Human anatomy--Early works to 1800 Science--Philosophy Natural history Printing--Switzerland--Basle--History--16th century Early printed books--Specimens Printing--Specimens
Place
Basle (Switzerland)
Source
Department of Archives and Special Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University
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