Comments on: Albinus Anatomical Prints Donation

By: tom williams

tom williams — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 22:06:03 +0000

Was there earlier printings of these plates? For example, the plate shown here as Musculorum Tabula II 1747 I have seen as 1739?

By: J hall

J hall — Wed, 28 Dec 2016 10:32:09 +0000

It’s a really good book the detailed prints are amazing and the prints are huge iv had my book for many years now

By: Michael North

Michael North — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 20:31:55 +0000

My apologies- I was away last week. I have not found any estimates about for this particular set of prints, but runs of copperplate engravings such as these were usually in the hundreds rather than the thousands; the copperplates themselves would wear down after several hundred times through the press. My estimate would be between 500 and 700 copies.

By: John Staral

John Staral — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 13:57:48 +0000

Hi Michael,

Are there any estimates of how many first edition (Leiden) copies of Albinus’ Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum Corporis Humani were originally printed?

Best regards,

John

By: Michael North

Michael North — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 16:34:40 +0000

In reply to Karen Reeds.

Albinus and Wandelaar’s new system was rather complex using two diopters (grids) at different intervals and with different sized squares between the anatomical specimen and the artist. You can read more about it in: Tim Huisman, “Squares and diopters: the drawing system of a famous anatomical atlas,” Tractrix, v. 4, 1992, pp. 1-11. You can also see scans that we made from Albrecht Durer’s “Vier Bücher von menschlicher Proportion” (Nuremberg, 1528) here: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/historicalanatomies/durer_home.html.

By: Karen Reeds

Karen Reeds — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 15:29:02 +0000

Hi, Michael 8/6/2013

Thanks very much for this posting!

This line caught my eye: “Albinus and Wandelaar devised a new technique of placing nets with square webbing at specified intervals between the artist and the anatomical specimen and copying the images using the grid patterns.”

I’m curious to know how their method differed from the perpective device pictured by my favorite artist, Albrecht Dürer: http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth200/durer_artistdrawingnude.html

Thanks,

Karen

PS The Circulating Now blog is a great idea! I’d be grateful if it could include direct links to the NLM’s historical collection catalogue and historical images pages. (For instance, I would have clicked to see what Dürer works are in NLM History of Medicine Division