Robert Knox. Man: His Structure and Physiology; popularly explained and demonstrated. Second Edition with an Appendix, London, H. Bailliere, 1858. There are eight numbered colour plates on six sheets, five of which feature moving parts and illustrations. The book is hardcover, 179 pp., and includes three pages from Bailliere's Catalogue at the end. Bound by Remnant and Edmont, London (marked as "Edmonts & Remnants, binders"). An uncut version. Dimensions: 19 x 12.5 cm. Condition: Original orange decorative cloth; tears at hinges, spine faded, with very slight bumps to the corners. The book was not fully read, and 128 out of 179 text pages remained uncut. Variations: fully uncut, top edge is uncut, side edge is uncut. (Printing presses used in those days printed one quire sheet at a time, each of which folded up into 16 pages.) The plates show no creases or tears, with all moving parts intact and well-preserved. There are no spots, and foxing is minimal. Commentary. Robert Knox, 1791-1862, was a Scottish anatomist, ethnologist (his other book was a controversial "The Races of Men," 1850), and a popular anatomical lecturer in Edinburgh, best known for his involvement in purchasing corpses from the notorious body snatchers Burke and Hare. "In these respects, the Committee considers the practice which was then adopted in Dr. Knox's rooms to have been very improper in the case of persons bringing bodies which had not been interred," the inquiry Committee concluded. The current atlas is described in simple language and includes detailed plate illustrations — several of which can be lifted (“pop-up”) off the page or moved aside. The idea behind this design was to replicate a dissection of a corpse as closely as possible, enabling students and readers to uncover multiple layers of anatomical detail. Knox had already conceived the idea of creating such an atlas in the 1830s, when he used diagrams during his lectures. It was difficult to achieve because creating the plates with movable parts was almost an engineering undertaking for a maker and a complicated task for a printer. Anatomical atlases of the 18th and early 19th centuries featured black-and-white illustrations, and later had hand-colored illustrations. The choice of precise colours for human organs in colour illustrations relied on the dyes a printer used. The Knox's "Manual of Human Anatomy" of 1853 was entirely black and white. Finally, he was able to publish his atlas in 1857. Napheys plagiarized Knox for his 1876 atlas. The creation of Knox's atlas is partially depicted in the film "The Doctor and the Devils" (1985) about body snatchers, starring Timothy Dalton as Dr. Thomas Rock, who portrayed Robert Knox. Wellcome Collection catalogue: Closed stores M8906. No version with uncut pages is known. Literature: Lonsdale, Henry. A Sketch of the Life and Writings of Robert Knox, the Anatomist. London: Macmillan, 1870. Napheys, G.H. The Body and Its Ailments. London, Philadelphia: Baillière, Tindall, Watts, 1876. Rosner, Lisa. The True and Horrid Story of the Burke and Hare Anatomy Murders. New York: The New York Academy of Medicine, 2014.