Myographia Nova - John Browne - Bauman Rare Books

Myographia Nova

John BROWNE

Item#: 80103 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Myographia Nova

LIMITED FACSIMILE EDITION OF JOHN BROWNE’S MYOGRAPHIA NOVA, WITH 40 FOLIO ANATOMICAL PLATES OF THE HUMAN BODY, AND A TREATISE ON THE HEART BY RICHARD LOWER

BROWNE, John. Myographia Nova: or, a Graphical Description Of All The Muscles in Humane Body, As they arise in Dissection: Distributed into Six Lectures… Together, With an Accurate and Concise Discourse of the Heart, and its Use. Written by the Late Learned Dr. Lower. (New York: Editions Medicina Rara (Rapoport), circa 1960). Folio (8 by 13 inches), modern half brown morocco gilt, marbled boards, original slipcase.

Facsimile edition, number 591 of 2,800 copies, of Browne’s renowned anatomical text, the first work to engrave the names of the muscles directly on the plates, with frontispiece portrait, ornamental tailpieces, and 40 folio plates of anatomy. With the appended work on the heart by celebrated physician Richard Lower, “one of the most important of English physiologists.”

Noted London surgeon and physician to Charles I, Charles II and William III, John Browne was also regarded as “a well-trained anatomist,” one who published works on tumors, wounds and tactics of diagnosis. “His treatise on the muscles consists of six lectures, illustrated by elaborate copper-plates” (DNB). This popular 17th-century anatomical text first appeared in manuscript in 1675. It was published in 1681 as A Compleat Treatise of the Muscles, and then printed under its Latin title in 1684, the “first in which the names were engraved on the muscles in each plate, an innovation which was used in all subsequent editions of the book” (Russell 106). This is a faithful facsimile of the 1697 edition, the first to include Richard Lower’s Accurate and Concise Discourse of the Heart (1669). Lower is “regarded as one of the most important of English physiologists… His most remarkable experiment was that of the direct transfusion of blood from one animal into the veins of another” and he was one of the earliest to conceive of the heart as a muscle (DNB). See Wing 5128; Krivatsy 1822; Russell 103; Waller 1510, 1512; Lowndes 290; Osler 2155.

A fine copy, light soiling to original slipcase.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
Association Copy copy that belonged to someone connected with the author or the contents of a book.
Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
Book-Plate Label, generally affixed to the front pastedown, identifying a book’s owner.
Broadside Sheet printed on one side, typically for public display, usually larger than folio size (a folio being a broadside-size sheet printed on both sides and folded once, to make four pages).
Calf Binding material made from cowhide—versatile, durable, usually tan or brown in color, of smooth texture with no or little apparent grain. Readily marbled (“tree calf”), mottled, diced, colored, polished, tooled in gilt or blind, even scented (known as “russia”). Reverse calf, with a distinctive suede-like texture, is occasionally used.
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Colophon Printed note at the end of a text containing information about the printing of the book.
Doublure Pastedowns made not of paper but of leather, for decorative purposes.
Duodecimo (12MO) Smaller than an octavo, typically less than six inches tall; smaller formats, such as 24mo and 32mo, are uncommon.
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Engraving Illustration produced by carving lines into a metal plate. This is an intaglio process, in which ink is poured over the plate, then wiped from the surface, leaving ink only in the recesses made by the engraver’s tools. The image is then transferred by pressing thick dampened paper against the metal plate with great force—requiring engravings to be printed on a separate stock and separate press from any text.
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Lithograph Illustration produced by transferring an image drawn on a carefully prepared stone to paper. The process allowed illustrations to more closely resemble the original drawings, paintings or sketches, as it gave the lithographer a freedom of line impossible to achieve in earlier intaglio and relief processes. It does not require the same sort of pressure as an engraving to transfer the image, but still has to be printed on separate stock from the text
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