HIST 10101 — History in Practice: Early Modern Bodies
Special Collections Teaching Session
The following items were displayed as part of the Special Collections Teaching Session for HIST 10101 on 16/11/23:
The text of this work is derived from a lecture and dissections presented by Dryander (also known as Johann Eichmann) in 1536 and expands on his previous work Anatomia capitis humani, including sections on the lungs and heart and a chapter on the anatomy of infants. He drew heavily on the works of other anatomists, principally Copho and Gabriele de Zerbis and he was later accused of plagiarism by Andreas Vesalius.
Selected pages available via Luna
Adriaan van den Spieghel, De humani corporis fabrica libri decem [Frankfurt, 1632]
Originally published posthumously in 1637, van den Spieghel (also known as Spigelius) borrowed the title of this, his best known anatomical work, from his fellow countryman Vesalius. At the author’s request of before his death, a German physician named Daniel Bucretius, also known as Daniel Rindfleisch, edited his unillustrated anatomical text, De humani corporis fabrica libri decem. To accompany it, he obtained a group of 78 copperplate engravings which Giulio Cesare Casseri had created for his own unpublished magnum opus, purchasing them from his heirs. One of these plates was destroyed for unknown reasons, but Bucretius had another twenty commissioned using the same artist, Titian’s student Odoardo Fialetti and engraver Francesco Valesio.
Johann Vesling, The anatomy of the body of man [London, 1677]
This is the 2nd edition of the English translation of Vesling’s 1641 work Syntagma anatomicum, a popular textbook based on his dissections while serving as professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Padua. It was made by the herbalist and unauthorised physician Nicholas Culpeper in 1653. In his address “To the Reader” he criticizes Vesling’s text, saying “… it is apparent that he drank too deep of Aristotle’s spittle…”, though praises the engravings. The work provides an early discussion of the human lymphatic system and includes the earliest depictions of the lacteals in humans.
Available online via Early English Books Online
[Sir Theodor Mayerne et al], The compleat midwife’s practice enlarged [London, 1698]
This is the 5th (and final) edition of a work first printed in 1656 and brought together ever more diverse texts on the topics of midwifery, pregnancy and childbirth until the 3rd edition when the content stabilised. Included in the work is material by Louise Bourgeois, midwife to the Queen of France; Nicholas Culpeper, a famous apothecary and Sir Theodore Mayern, physician to several kings of France and Charles I of England. The work was produced during a time of change in midwifery and there is no explicit naming of the authors or editors of the texts. It has content attributed to female midwifes, male apothecaries and male physicians and presents problems when trying to assign authorship.
Available online via Early English Books Online
William Cheselden, The anatomy of the humane body [London, 1722]
This is the 2nd edition of Cheselden’s first major work, first published in 1713 and which remained in print until 1792. Its popularity was partly due to it being in English rather than Latin and to the quality of its 31 engravings. Cheselden’s most important anatomical work was Osteographia or The Anatomy of Bones, published in 1733, the first full and accurate description of human osseus anatomy.
Available online via Eighteenth Century Collections Online
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- University of Manchester Library catalogue
- University of Manchester Archives catalogue (ELGAR)
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