ALBINUS, BERNARD SIEGFRIED. 1697-1770.


Tables of the Skeleton and Muscles of the Human Body. [Bound with:] A Compleat System of the Blood-Vessels and Nerves. London: John and Paul Knapton, 1749 and 1750. 2 works in 3 parts in one volume. Broadsheets (675 x 506 mm). 3 engraved title vignettes, 40 engraved plates (12 in outline), and 11 plates in second work. 20th century half morocco. Clean repaired tear to first title, some light dust soiling. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. "AMONG THE MOST ARTISTICALLY PERFECT OF ANATOMICAL ATLASES... Wandelaar placed his skeletons and musclemen against lush ornamental backgrounds to give them the illusion of vitality, using contrasts of mass and light to produce a three-dimensional effect. The most famous plate in the atlas depicts a skeletal figure standing in front of an enormous grazing rhinoceros, sketched by Wandelaar from the first living specimen in Europe, which had arrived at Amsterdam zoo in 1741" (Norman). See Garrison-Morton 399; See Norman 29; Wellcome II, p. 26. WITH: The Explanation of Albinus's Anatomical Figures of the Human Skeleton and Muscles. London: John and Paul Knapton, 1754.4to (248 x 206 mm). 19th century half brown morocco and marbled boards. Joints starting, soiling to first few leaves, foxing. The text volume published to accompany the Tables of the Skeleton and Muscles and A Compleat System of the Blood-Vessels and Nerves. The text is translated from Albinus's original Latin, but no translator is credited on the title page. Russell 6 and 8.