Andreas Laurentius - Historia Anatomica - 1606

Full parchment binding, limp parchment with some signs of wear. Title and author handwritten on the spine.

1 blank sheet, [38], 2 blank sheets, 918, 1 blank sheet

Historia Anatomica (or Historia anatomica humani corporis) is a famous treatise written by the French anatomist and physician André Du Laurens (born Tarascona, December 9, 1558; died Paris, August 16, 1609; studied in Avignon and Montpellier where he held the chair of medicine in 1583) who was counselor and first ordinary physician to the King of France. The text is divided into 12 books and offers a meticulous description of every single part of the human body. It is famous for having integrated pure descriptive anatomy with clinical observations and medical controversies of the period.

Beautiful printer's mark on the title page, printed in two colors, red and black. Drop cap and running heads. Nice anatomical engraving in the text on leaf b5. Wormholes along the upper inner margin from p. 31 to p. 150; another small wormhole along the lower inner margin from p. 430 to p. 460 that reappears from p. 531 to p. 560. Jump in pagination from 160 to 171 but with no missing leaves. Foxing is diffuse though light. Nevertheless, a good-condition copy, complete and usable.