Nicolas Tulp - Observationum Medicarum Libri Tres cum aenis figuris - 1641

Full parchment stiff binding. Four raised bands on the spine with gold tooling and a gilt title in a blue compartment.

1 blank leaf, [7], 1 blank leaf, 279, 1 blank leaf

FIRST EDITION. Nicolaes Tulp was a Dutch surgeon and mayor of Amsterdam. «[He –] is today best known for being the subject of Rembrandt's painting "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp" – he contributed many items to anatomy and pathology in this work, including the description of the ileocecal valve (known as the "Tulp valve"), whose discovery he shared with Gaspard Bauhin. The illustrations include the depiction of an "orangutan", which is in reality the portrait, albeit idealized, of a young chimpanzee. Tulp was the first European author to use the term "orangutan" and his description of the animal probably constituted the first account of the chimpanzee published in Europe. Edward Tyson [...] derived the title of his own tract on the chimpanzee precisely from the first paragraph of Tulp’s report, which contains the expression "orang-outang, sive homo sylvestris"» (Norman). Tulp is also remembered for having signed the certificates of suitability for the first Dutch settlers on Manhattan Island and for having written, together with other physicians and chemists, Amsterdam's first dispensatory, the *Pharmacopoea Amstelredamensis* (1636).

Engraved vignette on the title page with marginal wormholes and a restoration attempt. 14 full-page plates. Ex libris pasted to the flyleaf. Water staining along the upper and lower margins of the first 70 pages. Copy with uniform browning, overall in good conservation condition. Complete and usable.