Hamish Riley-Smith

BLAES,Gerard Anatome Animalium Amsterdam, Joannis à Someren 1681

Quarto, contemporary quarter vellum and marbled boards, spine lettered in ink, vellum tips to boards, entirely uncut throughout, (3) + 496pp, engraved frontispiece, 65 fine engraved plates, ownership in ink on the front blank leaf W.Hurd M.D. e Coll.Eden 1751, first few leaves a little dust stained in the outer margins otherwise an excellent large copy

FIRST EDITION, an unusually large copy, entirely uncut in its original binding. By the Dutchman Gerard Blaes, who became professor of medicine in Amsterdam. He was a keen student of comparative anatomy and was especially interested in embryology. This work is the first comprehensive treatise on comparative anatomy; a compendium of previous writings on the subject with original observations by Blaes. 119 types are considered and as many as 78 types represented in the illustrations. Each animal is treated organ by organ and the work “throws into clear relief the community of structure of the larger groups of vertebrate animals such as birds, rodents and carnivorous animals”.Garrison & Morton, 296. Cole, History of Comparative Anatomy pp.150-155. Singer, History of Biology pp.208-9. Wood, Literature of vertebrate zoology p.243. Thornton, Scientific Books, pp.128-9.

£1600

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