Science & Medicine Holiday 2022 - 96 - Very Rare First Editions Of Bell’s Anatomy Of The Brain, 1802, And Series Of Engravings On The Nerves, 1803, In One Folio Volume, With 21 Engraved Plates (Most Hand-Colored, Three Folding) 93. BELL, Charles. The Anatomy of the Brain, Explained in a Series of Engravings. BOUND WITH: A Series of Engravings, Explaining the Course of the Nerves. London, 1802, 1803. Tall quarto, contemporary three-quarter brown calf. $17,500. First editions of two seminal early works by Scottish surgeon Bell—Anatomy of the Brain (1802) and Series of Engravings (1803), wonderfully illustrated with 12 stipple-engraved anatomical plates (11 hand-colored)—-“engraved by Thomas Medland after Bell’s own drawings… one of the most beautifully illustrated in the entire literature”—and nine copper-engraved plates (three folding), all after richly detailed and expressive original drawings by Bell, a splendid volume in contemporary calf and marbled boards. This volume brings together two exceptional early works by Scottishborn surgeon Sir Charles Bell—Anatomy of the Brain (1802) and Series of Engravings (1803). “Trained in art as well as medicine,” Bell crafted beautiful anatomical drawings in connection with lectures by his brother John Bell (Norman 168). Moving to London in 1804, Bell “developed his experimental techniques involving the peripheral nerves in order to discover how the brain functions… Bell introduced new methods of determining the functional anatomy of the nervous system…His techniques and observations led to Johannes Müller’s generalizations on the sensory functions of the nervous system” (DSB). In Anatomy, “Plates I-X were engraved in colors as well as colored by hand” (Norman 168). Series of Engravings with nine copper-engraved plates, including three large folding plates, which reveal the body’s nerves, muscles, arteries and veins. All plates after original drawings by Bell. Series bound without rear leaf of ads. Norman 168, 169. Bookplate of American naval physician Dr. I.H. Hazelton, who served in the Civil War aboard the U.S.S. Vermont. Text and plates fresh with light scattered foxing; mild rubbing, edge-wear to boards, expert restoration to contemporary calf corners. “The human brain, in its earlier stage, resembles that of a fish… only after birth, does it assume the proper form and consistence of the human encephalon.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDg3OTM=