The Bones and Ligaments of the Human Body; In a Series of Plates, With References and Physiological Comments

London: Taylor and Watson, 1842. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good +. 103 p. 51 cm. 30 engraved plates. Rebacked and recornered in brown leather with original spine label and marbled paper boards. Bookplate on front pastedown for Arthur Bevan. Front hinge repaired internally. Some foxing and dampstains. Most noticeable dampstain is to inner margin of first plate but does not affect the illustration itself. Tear at bottom of plate 4.

Irish anatomist Jones Quain (1796 – 1865) became professor of Anatomy and Physiology at the University of London while co-author Sir Erasmus Wilson (1809-1884) was a well-known surgeon. Superb lithographs by William Fairland, well known for anatomical subjects. The authors, in their plate descriptions, refer to William Cheselden (1688-1752), teacher of anatomy and surgery, who in 1733 published Osteographia or the Anatomy of Bones, the first full and accurate description of the anatomy of the human skeletal system. Includes index. It's tempting to speculate on the identity of the Arthur Bevan whose bookplate in on the front pastedown. Assuming the previous owner was a doctor, the book may have belonged to Dr. Arthur Dean Bevan (1861-1943), the doctor who removed the bullet from Teddy Roosevelt when an anarchist attempted to assasinate him in Milwaukee. Bevan was a noted surgeon at Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago and the inventor of the Bevan Button for stitching up an incision. However, the stag and Latin motto suggests a British origin.