Milestones of Science Books

WEBER, Moritz Ignaz.

Anatomischer Atlas des Menschlichen Körpers in Natürlicher Größe, Lage und Verbindung der Theile: in 84 Tafeln und erklärendem Texte.

Düsseldorf: Verlag von Arnz and Co., 1830.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Large Folio. Very Good. Item #003554

[1830-1833]. Large folio (496 x 345 mm). Atlas volume only. Engraved double-page title and 46 (of 84) double-page lithographed plates, comprising plates numbered I – XL, and 6 supplementary plates captioned "Erste [...-Sechste] Ausserordentliche Supplement Tafel"; 25 of the plates with some hand-colouring. Lacking the 11 plates in 4 sheets each that were intended to be assembled to form a life-size figure of approx. 180 cm in size. Contemporary functional black buckram (spine very worn with chipping of cloth, some staining). Some dampstaining to title and plates, mainly to lower margins, a few plates with little mold sptting, text at foot of the supplement plates 4 to 6 trimmed with slight loss. Provenance: old signature partially erased from front free endpaper; Collection of Peter and Margarethe Braune. ----

FIRST EDITION. Moritz Ignaz Weber (1795-1875) was appointed professor of comparative and pathological anatomy at Bonn University in 1830. Throughout his life Weber devoted himself to the field of anatomy and its related sciences and produced a wealth of publications in the aforementioned field. The present work is among his best-known publications and has also been translated into French and English. When speaking of great anatomical works of the past century, Weber's atlas ranks among the masterpieces of anatomical illustration of recent times, both in terms of content and printing technique. The lithography has taken its high place, as also the great anatomical works of Oesterreicher, Tiedemann, Gurt, Feigel and others prove, which were all produced in the first half of the 19th century. (c.f. Hirsch-H. V, 866; Engelmann 617).
As here the work is often found incomplete as the 44 sheets were taken out and assembled to anatomical wall charts. Of the two copies of the same work in the National Library of Medicine, Washington D.C., one is recorded as having 45 plates (which may include the engraved title); the other as having 44. Cf. Brunet IV, 709 (citing an edition printed in Düsseldorf in 1834 with the title in French and calling for 84 plates).

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