De venarum osteolis
first edition Twentieth century three quarter tan leather.
1603 · Patavia [Padua]
by Fabricius, (Hieronymus) ab Aquapendente
Patavia [Padua]: Lorenzo Pasquati, 1603. First Edition (with the printing permission on p. 22).. Twentieth century three quarter tan leather.. Good. The margins of those pages with plates have been unevenly folded. Small portions of blank margins have been unevenly trimmed to facilitate folding on three plates. Generally a copy with good margins. The double page plate is close along the top horizontal margin as is plate four along the lower horizontal margin. There are two marginal tears with old repairs to the double page plate; at one point plate three has an old repair (paper flaw?) touching the engraved cross hatch shading at an extreme edge of the illustration but well within the margin. Plate five has a small old ink smudge to a blank portion of the plate. There is a 4 x 2 inch "crescent" of moderate damp mildew to the paper in the blank gutter at the base with an old repair to four leaves in the blank margin.. Folio. [2], 1 - 23, [1] pp.,with 7 full-page engraved text illustrations and one double-page illustration.
Fabricius was one of William Harvey's teachers and credibly the inspiration for Harvey's conceiving his idea of the circulation of the blood (see the noted comment to Robert Boyle referred to in Grolier, Medicine, p. 104). The book offered here is the first publication of the discovery and demonstration of the valves in the veins; the investigation of which had been accomplished prior to Harvey's attendance at Padua (Fabricius claims to have noticed them in 1574 and demonstrated the fact in his lectures). Though Fabricius had re-discovered these valves (DuBois, the teacher of Vesalius, had described them at an earlier date) he failed to comprehend their true function, ascribing their purpose to one of preventing distention of the veins when blood flowed into them from an artery. Nevertheless, the publication and illustration (the powerful illustration of the circulation through the great outstretched forearm appears here for the first time in the double page plate) of this 'discovery' is a milestone in the history of medicine. A notoriously difficult book in trade. G - M #757; Norman #750; Grolier Medicine #27b; DSB III, 507-512. (Inventory #: 16002)
Fabricius was one of William Harvey's teachers and credibly the inspiration for Harvey's conceiving his idea of the circulation of the blood (see the noted comment to Robert Boyle referred to in Grolier, Medicine, p. 104). The book offered here is the first publication of the discovery and demonstration of the valves in the veins; the investigation of which had been accomplished prior to Harvey's attendance at Padua (Fabricius claims to have noticed them in 1574 and demonstrated the fact in his lectures). Though Fabricius had re-discovered these valves (DuBois, the teacher of Vesalius, had described them at an earlier date) he failed to comprehend their true function, ascribing their purpose to one of preventing distention of the veins when blood flowed into them from an artery. Nevertheless, the publication and illustration (the powerful illustration of the circulation through the great outstretched forearm appears here for the first time in the double page plate) of this 'discovery' is a milestone in the history of medicine. A notoriously difficult book in trade. G - M #757; Norman #750; Grolier Medicine #27b; DSB III, 507-512. (Inventory #: 16002)