Beschreibung:

HARVEY, William (1578-1657). Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus . Frankfurt: William Fitzer, 1628. Small 4° (184 x 148mm). A-I 4 . Title with large engraved printer's device (torn affecting 7th line of title, the whole laid down, possibly from another copy), 2 engraved plates bound at end (2 small marginal wormholes on both plates, a third on second plate inside platemark just touches illustration), woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. (Folio E1 from another slightly smaller copy, 8 leaves with upper outer corner repaired, slightly browned throughout as in most copies.) Late 19th-century cloth-backed boards. Provenance : Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich of Russia (1859-1919, grandson of Tsar Nicolas I, Lieutenant General, president of the Imperial Historical and Geographical societies: book-label). FIRST EDITION. THE DISCOVERY OF THE CIRLCULATION OF THE BLOOD, GENERALLY REGARDED AS THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK IN THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE. Although apparently suggested in lectures since 1619, it was only in 1628 that Harvey decided to make public his discovery. The publishing history of this work has been described at length by Keynes, discussing the reasons which may have prompted the author to send his manuscript to Fitzer in Frankfurt for publication. The publisher, a young Englishman, the successor of De Bry, had been highly commended by Harvey's friend Robert Fludd. Alas it was an unfortunate decision, 'it is clear from the number of misprints in the first edition that Harvey can have seen no proofs. When he did first see the finished book he must have been appalled at the number of mistakes it contained; a leaf of 126 errata was inserted in part of the edition, but most surviving copies of the book do not contain it. Another misfortune was Fitzer's frugal mind. It would admittedly have been difficult for him to appreciate the importance of this apparently insignificant book, and he therefore economized on the production. He had it printed in a small mean type on paper of such poor quality that in most copies it had turned dark and crumbled. Only fifty-five copies are known to have survived to the present day ... and many of these will disintegrate in the course of time unless great care is taken for their preservation.' Only a very few copies were printed on thick paper. Keynes in 1953 listed a total of 45 known copies (including 3 on thick paper) and a forthcoming census by G. Witteridge and Christine English, has increased the number to 58, almost all in institutional collections, of which only 12 copies including two in the British Library, have the errata leaf.