History of the RSM - January 2012
Two woodcut illustrations from New Kreüterbuch.
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A woodcut illustration from Fasciculus Medicinæ.
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A woodcut illustration from De dissectione partium corporis humani libri tres.
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.Exhibition of woodcut illustrated books
Johannes Ketham's Fasciculus Medicinæ, first published in Venice in 1491, represents a double first in the history of publishing. It contains the first printed anatomic illustrations of any kind, and it was the first medical book to be illustrated by woodcuts.
Charles Estienne's De dissectione partium corporis humani libri tres, published in Paris in 1545, was delayed in publication by a dispute between the author and Étienne de la Rivière, the surgeon, anatomist, and artist who had assisted at dissections and supplied some of the illustrations for the book. Had they patched up their differences earlier, this book would have predated Vesalius's famous De Fabrica published in 1543. Many of the plates in Estienne's book are dated between 1530 and 1532, and most of the work was completed by 1539 with woodcuts by Jean "Mercure" Jollat.
Leonhart Fuchs's New Kreüterbuch from 1543 contains detailed plant-portraits drawn from life in Fuchs's garden at Tübingen by Albert Meyer, before being transferred to woodblocks by Heinrich Füllmaurer, and cut into wood by Viet Rudolph Speckle. Portraits of all three artists are included in the work, as well as descriptions and illustrations of over 400 German plants and 100 foreign plants.
These and several other works will be on show as part of an exhibition of woodcut illustrated books from the Library of the Royal Society of Medicine from 9 January – 24 February 2012.
The exhibition will be on the second-floor of the RSM Library and will be open to the public. Admission is free of charge.
Opening hours:
Mon – Thurs. 9:00 – 19:00
Fri. 9:00 – 17:30
Sat. 10:00 – 16:30
Previous features of the month:
- December 2011 - Charles Estienne
- November 2011 - John Hunter
- October 2011 - Ignaz Philip Semmelweis
- September 2011 - The signature of Thomas Beddoes
- August 2011 - Librarians' Room 23
- July 2011 - History of the RSM
- June 2011 - Occult Physick
- May 2011 - William Harvey Lecture
- April 2011 - Improvised bookmarks
- March 2011 - The Blitz
- February 2011 - The RSM Library
- January 2011 - Albert J. Edmunds
