655C Browne, John. (1642-1700?) A Compleat Treatise Of The Muscles, As they appear in Humane Body, And arise in Dissection; With Diverse Anatomical Observations Not yet Discover’d. Illustrated by near Fourty Copper Plates, Accurately Delineated and Engraven. By John Browne, Sworn Chirurgeon in Ordinary to His Majesty.

[London] In the Savoy: Printed by Tho. Newcombe
for the Author, 1681

$8,500

Folio, 12.7 x 7.75 in. First edition. [π]4, ¶1, a-d2, e3, A-Z2, Aa-Zz2, Aaa-Hhh2 (original blank Hhh2 present). A dozen of the engraved plates, which are otherwise singlets extraneous to the collation, have conjugates present that have been printed on one side only with explanations of the tables. This work contains an engraved portrait frontispiece of the author bound opposite the title, and thirty-six of thirty-seven full-paged engraved plates of people in various stages of dissection. The purpose is to illustrate the organization of the muscles. The subjects are generally depicted standing on various sorts of pedestals, often holding open their own gaping flaps of skin. This, combined with the presence of distinctive individual features on many of the dissectees, such as mustaches and hair styles, creates a rather eerie effect overall. The missing plate, number twelve, is seldom found as it illustrates the ”Accelerator Penis,” and must have been considered obscene. It has been removed from this copy. Little is known of the English engraver whose signature appears on some of these illustrations. Bryan’s “Dictionary of Painters and Engravers” says that Nicholas Yeates was “obscure” and flourished around 1681. This is a lovely copy, in good condition internally throughout. It has been recently rebacked, retaining the original seventeenth century gold-tooled spine and label. Therefore, the book’s overall appearance has gone virtually unchanged since it was first printed and bound 320 years ago.

According to Lowndes, the copies of this work that contain Browne’s portrait are printed on large paper. “Browne was a well-educated man, and in all likelihood a good surgeon, as he was certainly a well-trained anatomist according to the standard of the day. His treatise on the muscles consists of six lectures, illustrated by elaborate copper-plates, of which the engraving is better than the drawing. It is probably the first of such books in which the names of the muscles are printed on the figures. Browne’s portrait, engraved by R. White, is prefixed in different states to each of his books.” (DNB) The present work is based on William Molins’s Myskotomia, and the plates are based on Giulio Casserio’s (1552-1616) Tabula Anatomicae. In its later editions, this work appeared under the title: Myographia Nova.

Wing B-5126; ESTCR 20507; Russell 101; Cushing B762; Wellcome III, p. 251; Eimas 642.