De Vocis Auditusque Organis Historia Anatomica. Tractatibus Duobus Explicata ac Variis Iconibus Aere Excusis Illustrata

Ferrara: Victorius Valdinus, 1600. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 1600-1601. Two parts in one volume. Large folio (406 x 268 mm). [56] (of [60]), 191 [1]; 126, [2] pp. Engraved title, engraved portrait of the author, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, 34 full-page anatomical engravings (22 of the vocal organs, 12 of the auditory organs); lacking the bifolium a3-4 with the portrait of the Duke of Parma (a4) and the conjugate text leaf (a3). Signatures: a-b6 (-a3-4) a-c4 d6 A-2A4; A-Q4. Colophon on 2A4v: Ferrariae: excudebat Victorius Baldinus typographus cameralis, 1601, and Q4r: Ferrariae: excudebat Victorius Baldinus typographus cameralis, sumptibus unicorum Patavii, 1600. Contemporary full vellum, spine lettered in manuscript (vellum browned and soiled, tail of spine scuffed, minor wear and chipping to board edges and extremities, corners bumped and worn, upper slightly curved and with pen trials and signatures). Text and engravings crisp and clean, minor pale dampstaining to first and final gatherings including title, little spotting in places. Provenance. J.J. Chaponnière (inscription on title). A very good, wide-margined copy in untouched binding of the time. ----

FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE MOST HIGHLY DETAILED AND PENETRATING STUDIES IN COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. "Casserio began his career as the manservant of Girolamo Fabrici, who trained him in the art of dissection and encouraged him to pursue his medical studies; upon Fabrici's retirement in 1608, Casserio succeeded him in the chair of anatomy at the University of Padua. Like Fabrici, Casserio attempted to explain human anatomy by reference to the lower animals, and his De vocis, containing the first comparative studies of the vocal and auditory organs, represents one of the sixteenth century's most ambitious and detailed investigations in comparative anatomy. The work is divided into two treatises, on the anatomy of the larynx and on that of the ear. In the first, Casserio compared the human vocal apparatus to those of other mammals, birds, amphibians and even insects. He recognized the larynx to be the principal organ of voice, gave the first precise description of the cricoid-thyroid muscles and accurately depicted the superior and inferior laryngeal nerves, which he correctly assumed to originate from cranial nerves. He also was the first to understand the complex sound-producing organs on the abdomen of the cicada. In the second treatise, Casserio provided the first detailed comparative account of the auditory ossicles, the first adequate description of the mammalian osseous labyrinth, and the first representation of the ear of the fish - this last all the more remarkable in that, up to this time, no one had believed fishes to possess a sense of hearing. None of De vocis's full-page engravings, including the title engraving and portraits, are signed. The drawings for them have generally been attributed to the German painter and etcher Joseph Maurer, on the basis of a passage (cited in Choulant) in the treatise on the ear; however, recent research indicates that the engraved title and two portraits are most likely the work of Jacopo Ligozzi (1547-1626), who also illustrated specimens for the Bolognese naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi" (Norman).
"A masterpiece of book illustration and the most beautiful book ever published on the ear and throat in man and in lower animals". "Casseri ... investigated the structure of the auditory and vocal organs in most of the domestic animals. The book includes a description of the larynx more accurate than that of any previous author" (Garrison-Morton).
"Medical historians rank the accuracy and artistry of the illustrations in this and other works of Casserio in the same category as those of Vesalius, with Casserio setting the standard in copperplates as Vesalius had done with woodcuts" (Heirs of Hippocrates).
References & Bibliography: Norman 410; Choulant-Frank p. 223; Garrison-Morton 286; Grolier Medicine 24; Heirs of Hippocrates 397; NLM/Krivatsy 2199; Waller 1809; Wellcome 1333.