Bernardino Genga (1620-1690) Italian, Anatomy Improv'd and Illustrated Limited Edition (1972).  

Size: 17 1/4 X 12 1/4 X 1 in. 

This is a limited edition of Bernardino Genga’s Anatomy Improv’d And Illustrated put out by Medicina Rara in 1972. The book is No. LXXXIX [No. 89] of 2800 copies printed, and it’s an important work about anatomical surgery that was originally printed in 1723. The book is half-bound, with four raised bands and horizontal gilt rules and gilt lettering on the spine, linen cloth on the boards, brown endpapers, then the title page, followed by a note by John Senex about the plates used in printing the book, then 42 plates showing the bones of the body, the muscles, then anatomical views of the body from the front, side, and back, followed by an Index with a fold-out side, a list of Subscribers’ names, the limitation page  at the end, and the book comes with a brown slipcase. The title page reads “Anatomy Improv’d And Illustrated With Regard to the Lives thereof in Designing; Not Only laid down from an Examen of the Bones and Muscles of the Human Body, but also Demonstrated and Exemplified from The most Celebrated Antique Statues in Rome. Exhibited in a great Number of Copper Plates, with all the Figures in Various Views. Intended Originally for ye Use of The Royal French academy of Painting and Sculpture. And carried out under the Care and Inspection of Charles Errard Director of the Same in Rome. The Dissections made by Docr. Ber.o Genga. Anatomist Royal. The Explanation And Indexes Added By Sign’r Can. John Maria Lancissi, P. Physitian to his Holyness Pope Innocent XI. A Work of great Use to Painters Sculptors Statuaries And all others Studious in the Noble Arts Of Designing. First Published at Rome by Dom di Rolli, And Now Reengraved by the Ablest Hands in England. And Republish’d by John Senex at the Globe against St. Dunstans Church on Fleet Street. London. The limitation page at the back reads “Twenty-eight hundred copies of Bernardino Genga’s Anatomy Improv’d And Illustrated were printed for the members of Editions Medicina Rara Ltd. by John Bartholemew … in Edinburgh, Scotland, on a rag paper bearing the private watermark of Medicina Rara … The plates for printing were made from a copy of the 1723 London edition belonging to the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, Scotland. Three hundred copies have been bound in half leather and linen and are numbered in roman numerals I - CCC. Twenty-five hundred copies have been bound on one-quarter leather and paper and are numbered in arabic numerals 1 - 2500. All were bound at the bindery of A. W. Lumsden, Loanhead, Midlothian, Scotland. This copy is number LXXXIX”, which is the same number as the previous lot of medical sketches by Thomas Rowlandson, so we believe the books were both bought at the same time by the consignor. Bernardino Genga (1620 - 1690) was born in the Duchy of Urbino, in what would be modern central Italy later on, and he was a doctor and scholar of Classical medical texts; he edited several works of Hippocrates and had a great interest in preparing anatomical specimens and studying the anatomy of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. This led to his work at the French Academy in Rome, where he taught anatomy to artists. In 1672, he published his Anatomia Chirurgica, a textbook for surgeons, which was considered to be the first book devoted entirely to surgical anatomy. In a tract appended to the book, Genga also showed himself to be one of the first Italians to accept Harvey's theory on the circulation of the blood. A year after his death, Genga’s Anatomia per Uso et Intelligenza del Disegno was published, which consisted of renderings of his anatomical preparations by the artist Charles Errard, director of the Academy, and Giovanni Maria Lancisi, the Papal physician, edited the work and provided much of the commentary. An English translation of the work appeared in London in 1723 under the title Anatomy Improv’d and Illustrated, which is the same title as the book here. The book measures 17 1/4 x 12 1/4 inches wide and is in great condition, with a tight binding, clean plates and clean pages and text. There is light rubbing on the raised bands on the spine and that’s it, and the slipcase is in very good condition too, with just light rubbing on the covers. Originals of Anatomia Chirurgica from the 1600’s are hard to find -  fewer than two dozen copies have been recorded in institutional collections around the world (per OCLC) - and we found only two copes listed for sale online, and they go for $1500 and nearly $5700. The Medicina Rara editions are rare as well - we found only two copies listed for sale online, and they go for $230 and $380 - and they are an important source of material about anatomy for doctors, surgeons and artists.