Milestones of Science Books

REMMELIN, Johann.

Catoptrum microcosmicum, suis aere incisis visionibus splendens cum historia, & pinace, de novo prodit.

Frankfurt am Main: A. Humm heirs, 1660.

4th Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #003182

27 (i.e. 25) [1] pp. Engraved title with allegorical figures and medical instruments, 3 full-page engraved plates with movable flaps (all pages including title and plates with extensive, skillful paper repairs to margins, corners and folds, some spotting and soiling to margins of title; plates with repairs, some spotting to first plate, plates probably lacking a few flaps (parts), some flaps loose [woman's stomach], and some with repairs, two repaired with new paper ["the scarfes"], repaired tear near the man's head; text with some spotting and staining). [Bound After]: ANATOMEPHILO. Tabulae Anatomico-Anthropographicae, Oder Kürtzliche dabey Gründliche Beschreibung der Theile des Menschlichen Cörpers, Nach ihrem Wesen und Verrichtungen, ... mit sonderbahrem Fleiß in VI. Tabellen verfasset von Anatomephilo. Dresden: J. J. Winckler, 1708. Printed title and 6 folding tables. Title and text with expertly repaired outer margins, hinges, corners and folds, sometimes trimmed, some repaired tears, some staining and soiling, table 5 and 6 with paper losses to upper margin, spotting and staining. Large folio (c. 450 x 340 mm). Bound in modern three-quarter sheep over marbled boards, new endpapers with part of original free endpaper and old owner's note laid down. Provenance: F. J. Desensey(?), dated 1826. Still a very good copy. ----

Hirsch-H. IV, 916; Krivatsy 9553; Wellcome IV, 504; vgl. Choulant-Frank 232; VD17 12:177437G. Fourth or fifth Latin edition of Remmelin's popular anatomical atlas and flap book, first published in 1613. At the same time published also in Ulm by Görlin. With its flaps, it represents a novelty in the history of anatomical illustration. "This book is a treatise on anatomy, and consists of a series of plates in layers, so that the parts below can be seen in succession by lifting the hinged portions, an idea which originated with Remmelin" (Ferguson II, 253). The copper plates were drawn after Remmelin's designs by L. Kilian and engraved by S. Michelspacher. They show the anatomy of the man and the woman in full figure and a few highlighted details, each with a number of hinged flaps. The completeness of the moving parts, sometimes too many superimposed, cannot be established with certainty. See VD18 14380145-005 for Tabulae. Not much of this work, which lists the anatomical parts of the human body in a tabular way, and its real author befind the synonym is known. - Visit our website for additional images and information.

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