Traité complet de l'anatomie de l'homme. 16 vols. in 14 (text and atlas)

Bourgery, Jean-Baptiste Marc (1797-1849) & Nicolas Henri Jacob (1782-1871). Traité complet de l'anatomie de l'homme comprenant la médecine opératoire. Multi-vol. set. 8 vols. (text plus atlas) bound in 14 volumes. Frontispiece (bound in the first text volume) and 726 hand-colored lithographed plates by Jacob; lithographed titles in the atlas volumes. Paris: C. A. Delaunay, 1831-54. 426 x 318 mm. Publisher's quarter morocco, gilt-ruled spines ca. 1854, light wear, some inner hinges cracking. Occasional foxing and toning, but a fine set with plates in beautiful condition. Prospectus for the second edition tipped in opposite the title-leaf of the atlas to Vol. I.

First Edition. With over 2000 pages of text and 726 hand-colored lithographed plates (incorporating 3604 individual figures), this encyclopedic work is the most comprehensive, and the most beautiful anatomical and surgical atlas of the 19th century. It is also rare when absolutely complete like this set.

Published over 23 years, the Traité complet represented the life work of the anatomist Bourgery, who died before its completion. Some copies were issued with the plates in black and white; the black and white images lack the visual drama of the hand-colored plates.

The artist who directed the massive program of prosection, and who was responsible for 512 of the spectacular illustrations, was Nicholas-Henri Jacob, a student of the neo-classical painter of the French Revolution, Jacques-Louis David. Bourgery considered Jacob his full collaborator in the project. The influence of the highly finished style of David is evident in the plates for this work. Before embarking on this project Jacob had gained considerable experience drawing on stone for lithographic publications. Jacob's artistic collaborators on the project were his wife, Charlotte Hublier-Jacob; Jean-Baptiste Leveillé; Edmond Pochet; E. Roussin and others. The physiologist Claude Bernard did dissections and had a small role in the work.

The eight volumes of text in this edition are divided as follows:

Vol. I, osteology and syndesmology ([4], 191pp.)

Vol. II, myology and aponeurology ([2], ii, 141pp.)

Vol. III, neurology ([2], 341pp.)

Vol. IV, angiology ([2], 162pp.)

Vol. V, splanchnology ([2], 342pp.)

Vol. VI, surgery; ([4], 280pp.)

Vol. VII, surgery ([4], 356, lii, [2]pp.)

Vol. VIII, embryogenesis ([2], viii, 335pp.)

The plates are distributed as follows:

Vol. I: plates 1-59

Vol. II: plates 60-159

Vol. III: 115 plates, numbered 1-100

Vol. IV: 98 plates, numbered 1-91

Vol. V: 96 plates, numbered 1-76

Vol. VI: 93 plates, numbered 1-91

Vol. VII: 98 plates, numbered 1-77 and A-P Vol. VIII: 67 plates, numbered 1-60

The surgical volumes, which contain a total of 191 plates, depict in considerable detail virtually all major operations performed in the mid-19th century; they represent the largest and most beautiful 19th century color-plate atlas of surgical operations. These large folio surgical plates were copied in reduced format in the numerous editions of the Bernard & Huette surgeries published in octavo format and the various editions of the American Pancoast surgery published in quarto format. A second edition of Bourgery's work, which included a supplementary volume to Vol. VII, was published in 1866-71 under the direction of Claude Bernard. The very rare prospectus for this edition is tipped into the first atlas volume of our set. Garrison-Morton.com 7246. Roberts & Tomlinson, The Fabric of the Body, 536-39, plates 115-16. Bourgery and Jacob, Atlas of Human Anatomy and Surgery, ed. Jean-Marie Minor and Henri Sick (2005).