Compendium Anatomicum Totam Rem Anatomicam

Description

With the intensification of the printed production of scientific books between the 16th and 17th centuries, there emerged a widespread awareness of the need to foster a more immediate understanding of scientific phenomena through the direct connection between writing and images. Therefore, an incisive and precise iconographic outfit was proposed, responding to the new demands of mimetic realism. This descriptive task favoured the advancement of science by disseminating figurative copies that fully corresponded to the anatomical descriptions themselves. The present edition of 1742 is one of two copies existing in Italian public libraries. Lorenz Heister (1683-1758), German surgeon father of modern German surgery. He wrote a treatise on anatomy (“Compendium anatomicum”, Altdorf 1717) and one on surgery (“Compendium institutionum sive fundamentum medicinae”, Nuremberg 1718), also translated into Italian (Naples 1774), the most extensive and complete of those published in the 18th century.