GEMINUS, Thomas. Compendiosa totius anatomie delineatio... London, [colophon:] John Herford, October 1545

'A first edition, a very attractive copy of this famous engraved version of the Vesalian plates, the first appearance of these images after the Fabrica itself in 1543. It is one of the rarest and most beautiful anatomical books. It is one of the rarest and most beautiful anatomical books. ‘Although by tradition and Vesalius’s own comments this work has been considered the first of the many plagiarisms of Vesalius’s Fabrica and Epitome, Geminus gave full credit to Vesalius in a bold headline on the first leaf of text. He did, however, redraw Vesalius’s woodcuts without permission. This is the second work [and the first of any consequence] printed in England with engraved plates. The new medium of copperplate engraving used by Geminus allowed a sharpness of line impossible for the wood engravers employed by Vesalius. This is in fact the first medical book illustrated with a suite of full-page engraved plates. The title page was called by Hind ‘the first engraving of any artistic importance produced in England’.

£95,000  -  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

View this dealer's complete stock list