A COMPENDIOUS TREATISE OF ANATOMY, ADAPTED TO THE ARTS OF DESIGNING, PAINTING, AND SCULPTURE: ON EIGHT FOLIO COPPER PLATES

London: Printed for Robert Sayer, ca. 1770. 380 x 242 mm. (15 x 9 1/2"). [4] leaves of text, followed by plates.
Original gray paper wrappers. WITH EIGHT FINE ENGRAVED PLATES of the male body in various poses, three depicting the skeleton and five the musculature. Russell 816; Wellcome V, p. 273; ESTC N51161. See also Russell, "John Tinney's Compendium Anatomicum and its publishers." Wrapper a bit soiled and foxed, corners torn, with two snags (two-inch and half-inch) to lower cover, most of spine chipped away, but the stitching holding the book firmly together; mild offsetting from engravings and a few spots of foxing, but a really excellent copy internally, the leaves fresh and clean, and with very good impressions of the engravings.

This rare collection of striking anatomical engravings is wonderfully preserved in its original, unrestored wrappers. First published in 1743 as "Compendium Anatomicum," the work's plates are adapted from the famous anatomies of Vesalius and Cowper. It was intended as a reference work for artists, but as its name suggests, it was published with a wider audience in mind. As Tinney humbly tells the reader in the subtitle, this is "a work not only very useful but absolutely necessary, to painters, statuaries, and all professors, of drawing and design, as well as a proper introduction to the study of anatomy for the use of young surgeons," not to mention an "instructive furniture for the studies and libraries of the curious." The work remained in print for a full century, though because it was a frequently used book, few copies have come down to us in collectible condition. John Tinney (ca. 1706-61) was an engraver and print seller who dealt in a wide variety of material, being particularly known for maps and satirical prints as well as the present work. Our edition, while undated, almost certainly dates to the period between 1762-70. The first posthumous edition of "A Compendious Treatise" was released in 1762 by Robert Sayer, a map and print seller who was an associate of Tinney's during his lifetime, and who likely purchased his stock of plates from his widow following his 1761 death. In 1770, Sayer began a partnership with John Bennett, after which the firm was known as "Sayer and Bennett." Since the present edition was published under Sayer's name alone, it no doubt comes from the period following the 1762 edition but before the partnership. The present copy has made it through the centuries in remarkably good condition given its flimsy binding, and the plates inside, with their cheerfully macabre figures, remain quite fresh and pleasing..