Impetus primi anatomici ex lustratus cadaveribus nati

Cant, Arent (1695-1723). Impetus primi anatomici ex lustratus cadaveribus nati. . . . Large folio. [6] 28pp. Engraved title vignette, 6 folding engraved plates after drawings by the author. Leiden: for the author by Pieter vander Aa, 1721. 504 x 372 mm. Speckled calf c. 1721, gilt spine, a little worn & spotted, spine and corners repaired. Fore-edge of plate 6 repaired, a few tears and chipping to some margins, some damp stains mainly confined to final blank end-leaves, but otherwise very good. Russian library stamp on the verso of the title. From the library of Ira M. Rutkow, with his pencil signature on the rear flyleaf, and the collection of Dean S. Edell.

First Edition. Cant, a pupil of Frederik Ruysch, was a skilled anatomist and artist whose ambitious plan to publish a great anatomical work was interrupted by his premature death at the age of 28. The present work represents the only volume of Cant's projected anatomy; it contains six large folding plates, drawn by the author, illustrating the anatomy of the head, heart, stomach, shoulder and knee joints, thoracic duct, etc. Cant was one of the few early anatomists to make use of the "grid-reference" identification system devised by Eustachius (1510/20 -1574), in which anatomical structures are located by means of numbered borders at the side and top of each plate; this method allows the anatomist to illustrate his figures without superimposed lettering or numbering. Lindeboom, Dutch Medical Biography, col. 325. Roberts & Tomlinson, Fabric of the Body, p. 191.