Beschreibung:

CHESELDEN, William (1688-1752). Osteographia, or the Anatomy of the Bones. London: [William Bowyer for the author?], 1733. 2 o (505 x 350 mm). Engraved frontispiece, engraved title with royal arms on verso, engraved dedication with engraved deer skeleton on verso, 25 leaves with 29 engravings (vignettes and head-pieces) in text and 111 (of 112), engraved plates comprising 2 sets of 56 numbered engraved plates (lacks plate 56 of first set) by Jacob Schijnvoet and Gerard van der Gucht. Contemporary speckled calf, gilt corner pieces (rebacked, corners repaired). Provenance: Hans Sloane (engraved bookplate on front pastedown). FIRST EDITION, with title vignette and engraving on verso of the second plate LVI printed in red. "THE MOST FAMOUS AND AMONG THE MOST ARTISTICALLY INTERESTING OSTEOLOGICAL ATLASES EVER PRODUCED" (Norman). Printed on thick paper and large folio format allowing natural-size illustrations of the separate human bones. The great accuracy of the large plates of adult, fetal and pathological bones lies both in Cheselden's innovative use of the camera obscura, which he was the first to employ for the purpose of book illustration and in his intervention in the drawing and engraving processes. Complete copies of this work are rare. 400 copies were printed, but only a small number of books were sold to subscribers. To make up for the financial loss, many of the sets were broken up, so the plates could be sold individually. Choulant p. 261; Garrison-Morton 395; Heirs of Hippocrates 814; Russell 173; Waller 1941; Wellcome II, p. 335; Norman 466.