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Lot 34
COWPER, WILLIAM. 1666-1709. LAIRESSE, GÉRARD DE. 1640-1711. The Anatomy of Humane Bodies, with Figures Drawn after the Life.... Oxford: printed at the Theater, for Samuel Smith and Benjamin Walford, 1698.
21 September 2015, 13:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$7,000 inc. premium
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COWPER, WILLIAM. 1666-1709.
LAIRESSE, GÉRARD DE. 1640-1711. The Anatomy of Humane Bodies, with Figures Drawn after the Life.... Oxford: printed at the Theater, for Samuel Smith and Benjamin Walford, 1698.
Folio (555 x 329 mm). [72] ff, including mezzotint frontispiece, allegorical engraved title with pasted-on English title in cartouche as usual, second engraved title with large vignette. With 114 engraved anatomical plates (2 folding - one of which printed on two joined sheets, 105 designed by Gérard de Lairesse and probably engraved by Bloteling, 9 mostly drawn and engraved by M. van der Gucht), woodcut tailpieces and floriated initials. Contemporary diced calf, neatly rebacked, 8 raised bands, spine titles gilt. Repairs to portrait, engraved titles and first five leaves (dedication and index), lower margin of portrait extended, a few additional short edge tears and small repairs to margins, loss to blank bound margin near fold of plate 23, repairs to folding plate 10, appendix plates 3 and 6 trimmed at bottom edge just inside plate line with loss of engraver signature to the latter, left margin of plate 28 trimmed inside plate line with no loss to image, scattered light foxing and occasional marginal thumbsoiling, still an attractive copy overall.
Provenance: 18th century marginalia in brown ink scattered throughout.
FIRST EDITION OF "THE LARGEST IN FORMAT, AND MOST ELABORATE AND BEAUTIFUL OF ALL 17TH CENTURY ENGLISH TREATISES ON ANATOMY, and also one of the most extraordinary plagiarisms in the entire history of medicine. Cowper purchased sets of the copperplates used to illustrate [Govard] Bidloo's book [Anatomia humani corporis, 1685] ... apparently without Bidloo's permission, and issued them under his own name with an improved text in English, and a new illustrated appendix. For the frontispiece Cowper had a small printed flap with his own name pasted over Bidloo's own engraved title and name" (G-M). In spite of this blatant plagiarism, Cowper's text showed "a great deal of original research and fresh new insights" (Heirs of Hippocrates). The nine new plates that Cowper commissioned, drawn by Cooke and engraved by van der Gucht, include front and back views of the entire musculature. The engraver of the Lairesse plates is not mentioned in Bidloo's work except on the bust portrait of Bidloo which is signed A. Blooteling sculp. According to Haller the engravings are by Van Gunst, and Moehsen identifies the brothers Peter and Philip Van Gunst (see Choulant p 250). Whomever the engraver, the illustrations are considered masterpieces of Dutch baroque art. Garrison-Morton 385.1; Heirs of Hippocrates 723.9; Welcome II p 401; Wing C6698.
Folio (555 x 329 mm). [72] ff, including mezzotint frontispiece, allegorical engraved title with pasted-on English title in cartouche as usual, second engraved title with large vignette. With 114 engraved anatomical plates (2 folding - one of which printed on two joined sheets, 105 designed by Gérard de Lairesse and probably engraved by Bloteling, 9 mostly drawn and engraved by M. van der Gucht), woodcut tailpieces and floriated initials. Contemporary diced calf, neatly rebacked, 8 raised bands, spine titles gilt. Repairs to portrait, engraved titles and first five leaves (dedication and index), lower margin of portrait extended, a few additional short edge tears and small repairs to margins, loss to blank bound margin near fold of plate 23, repairs to folding plate 10, appendix plates 3 and 6 trimmed at bottom edge just inside plate line with loss of engraver signature to the latter, left margin of plate 28 trimmed inside plate line with no loss to image, scattered light foxing and occasional marginal thumbsoiling, still an attractive copy overall.
Provenance: 18th century marginalia in brown ink scattered throughout.
FIRST EDITION OF "THE LARGEST IN FORMAT, AND MOST ELABORATE AND BEAUTIFUL OF ALL 17TH CENTURY ENGLISH TREATISES ON ANATOMY, and also one of the most extraordinary plagiarisms in the entire history of medicine. Cowper purchased sets of the copperplates used to illustrate [Govard] Bidloo's book [Anatomia humani corporis, 1685] ... apparently without Bidloo's permission, and issued them under his own name with an improved text in English, and a new illustrated appendix. For the frontispiece Cowper had a small printed flap with his own name pasted over Bidloo's own engraved title and name" (G-M). In spite of this blatant plagiarism, Cowper's text showed "a great deal of original research and fresh new insights" (Heirs of Hippocrates). The nine new plates that Cowper commissioned, drawn by Cooke and engraved by van der Gucht, include front and back views of the entire musculature. The engraver of the Lairesse plates is not mentioned in Bidloo's work except on the bust portrait of Bidloo which is signed A. Blooteling sculp. According to Haller the engravings are by Van Gunst, and Moehsen identifies the brothers Peter and Philip Van Gunst (see Choulant p 250). Whomever the engraver, the illustrations are considered masterpieces of Dutch baroque art. Garrison-Morton 385.1; Heirs of Hippocrates 723.9; Welcome II p 401; Wing C6698.