De humani corporis fabrica

[1555]

Monro Collection M306

[Basel: Joannis Oporini]

This image is from a 16th century printing of Andreas Vesalius’s (1514-1564) De humani corporis fabrica (‘On the structure of the human body’), which is part of the Monro Collection transferred from the Medical Library to Special Collections in 2013. Vesalius taught at Padua University in Northern Italy where he instructed in anatomy and surgery and dissected corpses during classes for the increased benefit of his students learning. His influential anatomical treatise was highly regarded for the meticulous attention to detail in its engravings and it contained the first published true to life depictions of the complex anatomical structure of the human body. It is a very impressive work.