Estienne, Charles

De dissectione partium corporis humani libri tres

      Apud Simonem Colinaeum, Parisiis 1545 13 1/2 x 9 inches, [24], 375 pages, seventeenth-century mottled calf, gilt panelled spine, With title-page vignette, 62 full-page and 101 text woodcut illustrations. First edition. "Had De dissectione been published in 1539, there is no question that it would have stolen much of the thunder from Vesalius' Fabrica.Despite its tardy appearance, however, De dissectione was able to make numerous original contributions to anatomy, including the first published illustrations of the whole external and venous nervous systems, and descriptions of the morphology and purpose of the "feeding holes" of bones, the tripartate composition of the sternum, the valvulae in the hepatic veins and the scrotal septum. In addition, the work's eight dissections of the brain give more anatomical detail than had previously appeared." (Norman 728). Good: edgeworn; title-page soiled and mounted to stub, minute wormhole from title-page to p. 215, leaf 12 mounted and washed, (possibly supplied from another copy) and with repair at top margin, final leaf mounted with substantial loss of lower corner and closed tear affecting 7 lines of text.