FR EN
1 / 6
a drawing of a man ' s skeletal torso and arma drawing of a large group of people standing in front of a buildinga diagram of the human nervous systema drawing of a man ' s torso and arm with musclesan old book sitting on top of a white table next to a white walla drawing of a man ' s head with a brain on it
Featured lot selected by the auctions House.
Premium Wannenes Art Auctions

62 - VESALIUS, Andreas (1514–1564). *De humani corporis fabrica l…
See original version (Italian)

Estimate €15,000 - €25,000
Sale commission
Description
VESALIUS, Andreas (1514–1564). *De humani corporis fabrica libri septem*. Basel: Johannes Oporinus, June 1543. A study copy of the first edition of one of the greatest achievements in medical and scientific literature, and a landmark in the history of anatomy. With the *Fabrica*, Vesalius transformed our understanding of the human body, challenging the authority of the Galenic tradition through dissection and direct observation. As Professor of Anatomy at the University of Padua, he conceived the work as a comprehensive investigation of the human body, proceeding from the skeleton and musculature through the blood vessels, nerves and internal organs to the heart and brain. No less fundamental to Vesalius’s project was its extraordinary programme of illustrations, conceived not merely as an accompaniment to the text but as an essential tool for anatomical knowledge and instruction. The images were produced in Venice under Vesalius’s close supervision, within Titian’s circle and possibly with the involvement of Jan Stephan van Calcar; the woodblocks were subsequently sent to Basel together with precise instructions for their arrangement. Among the book’s most distinctive features are the celebrated anatomical figures and the remarkable historiated initials, populated by putti engaged in dissections and other anatomical activities. The *Fabrica* was to exert a profound and lasting influence on the visual language of European anatomy. At once a monument to Renaissance science and one of the great masterpieces of sixteenth-century book production, it established a new standard for the study and representation of the human body, becoming an essential reference not only for physicians and scholars, but also for generations of artists. Folio (380 × 265 mm). Engraved title page; two folding plates and one single plate entitled *Charta parvas aliquot figuras complectens*; over 200 woodcut illustrations, including full-page depictions of the skeletal and muscular systems; printer’s mark at the end and numerous historiated and ornamental woodcut initials from several different series (350 leaves out of 355, with 5 leaves missing: *6 bearing the portrait of Vesalius, text leaves A1 and O3, O4 with two full-page illustrations of skeletons, and R6 with a full-page illustration of the muscular system; marginal water-staining, light but widespread purplish damp-staining to the lower outer margins of several leaves, particularly at the beginning and end; losses and tears to the margins of the first and final leaves with early reinforcements and repairs; title page reinforced and with losses to the lower right and upper corners). 19th-century half-vellum binding, handwritten title on the spine (minor defects). (1)
See original version (Italian)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS
Auction location
Auction time 10/15/2026 at 2:45 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like