Icones anatomicae

Munich: The Bremer Press for The New York Academy of Medicine.., 1934. BREMER PRESS. Full Description:

VESALIUS, Andreas. [BREMER PRESS]. Icones anatomicae. [Munich: The Bremer Press for] The New York Academy of Medicine and The Library of the University of Munich, 1934 [i.e. 1935].

Limited to 615 copies, this being number 76. Large folio (21 1/2 x 15 inches; 540 x 380 mm). Complete with the extra large folio insert (two pages, printed on one leaf) entitled “To the Reader” laid-in, 130 pages of "Characterum Indices", xiii pages "Index Tabularum, 2 pages of '"Ad Lecturum" and 1 page colophon. With 2 folding plates reproducing designs for the original title page. And numerous impressions from the original woodblocks for Vesalius's three major anatomical works. All but 50 of the illustrations were printed from the original woodblocks, which were held by the library at the University of Munich; the blocks were subsequently destroyed in World War II.

Original half pig skin over brown paper boards by Frieda Thiersch (stamp-signed on rear pastedown). Front board lettered and stamped in gilt. Spine with brown morocco spine label, lettered in gilt. All edges uncut. Except for minor rubbing and soiling to binding, a bright and fine copy of this important and impressive edition.

“Andreas Vesalius lived for fifty years, from 1514 to 1564, and, at the age of twenty-four, became professor of surgery and anatomy at the University of Padua. When he made the amazing discovery that Galen, whose third-century writings were still being followed, had never dissected a human body, he decided to brave religious opposition and prejudice and gain first-hand knowledge....

“This monumental reprint of Icones Anatomicae was undertaken by the Bremer Press in Munich and published in 1935 (under date of 1934) by the New York Academy of Medicine and the University of Munich... A hand press was employed, and the volume was printed on a pure rag, handmade paper specially watermarked by the famous Zanders establishment in Holland. The type is one of the private fonts of the Press, designed by its director, Willi Wiegand. Fortunately, 222 of the original wood blocks were preserved in the Library of the University of Munich, and were lent for this printing; one more, a title-page wood block, was lent by the University of Louvain, and fifty plates were reproduced photographically from the original illustrations, since the blocks could not be traced. To many critics the quality of the impressions of the woodcuts in this modern edition surpasses even that of the edition of 1543.

“With the publication of this masterpiece, the Bremer Press ceased operations. Its span of activity had lasted a quarter of a century, during which it had specialized in monumental editions. Many of them stressed the timeless qualities of ancient intellectual achievements, as well as the verities inherent in the artistry and craftsmanship of the early printers” (Great Books in Great Editions, p. 45).

Great Books in Great Editions 19.

HBS 69321.

$9,500. (Inventory #: 69321)