Nerves of the Human Body First Edition - Jones Quain - Bauman Rare Books

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Nerves of the Human Body

Jones QUAIN | W. J. E. WILSON

Item#: 107914 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Nerves of the Human Body

Nerves of the Human Body

Nerves of the Human Body

Nerves of the Human Body

Nerves of the Human Body

Nerves of the Human Body

Nerves of the Human Body

WITH 38 HAND-COLORED LARGE FOLIO ANATOMICAL LITHOGRAPHS OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM

QUAIN, Jones (editor and illustrator); WILSON, W.J.E. (editor). The Nerves of the Human Body; Including the Brain and Spinal Marrow, and Organs of Sense; in a Series of Plates, with References and Physiological Comments. London: Taylor and Walton, 1839. Tall folio (13 by 21 inches), original drab cloth rebacked in calf.

First edition, with 38 splendid large folio hand-colored lithographs of the brain, the nervous system and the sensory organs.

Quain's Elements of Descriptive and Practical Anatomy (1828) is "among the most important of the English textbooks on anatomy" (Garrison-Morton 410); the present volume of hand-colored plates was issued to accompany that important text. The work of an "elegant and accomplished scholar," Quain's accomplishments would serve as the basis of all major anatomy books for decades (DNB), including Gray's famous Anatomy (1858). This was the third of five "Divisions" issued by Quain to illustrate human anatomy; the other parts depicted the muscular system, the circulatory system, the digestive and respiratory systems, and the skeletal system. The other four plate volumes were published over a period of six years and are often found separately. With 91 pages of descriptive text. Early ownership inscription of J.M.E. Roche of the Royal College of Surgeons in London on front free endpaper, neat ownership ink stamp of the Bibliothèque du Docteur J. Livon in lower margin of title page and verso of first plate.

Marginal stain in first several leaves, not affecting images or text; usual minor offsetting from text to plates, occasional foxing; color plates vivid. Cloth lightly stained, corners gently bumped. An extremely good copy, handsomely rebacked, in the original cloth.

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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.
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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.
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Doublure Pastedowns made not of paper but of leather, for decorative purposes.
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Wood-Engraving Engraving made with the graver or burin on the cross-section of a piece of boxwood; the harder wood and finer tools allow for more delicate, finely detailed images, while the block can still be set in the page alongside text and printed on the same stock as the text. While much older, wood engravings enjoyed an important renaissance in the late eighteenth century through Thomas Bewick and continued in popularity thorugh the nineteenth century.
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