Seisetsu ihan teiko shakugi [trans.: Commentary on Essentials of Western Medicine] by UDAGAWA, Genshin

Title-page, 1 (of two, lacking second leaf of first Foreword), 2, 8, 2, 21, 35, 19 folding leaves. Three vols. in one. Large 8vo, orig. aubergine wrappers (some light staining in gutter of first ten leaves, a few leaves with minor mostly marginal worming), block-printed title label on upper cover, new stitching. Edo: Suharaya Ihachi, 1805. [with]: -. [Ihan teiko naisho dobanzu] [trans.: Copperplate Engravings of Organs of Ihan teiko]. Title-page, one leaf of foreword, 16 engraved plates, each with facing printed explanatory text, two pages of "Afterword" and colophon. Large 8vo, bound accordion-style within old wooden boards. Edo: Suharaya Ihachi, 1808. First edition of this important and remarkable book. "In 1805 Genshin or Shinsai Udagawa (1769-1834) published his Ihan teiko, which was a manual of anatomy in three volumes of text, based on the works of Stephanus Blankaart (more correctly, Stephen Blancard), Jean Palfyn (or Palfin), and Jakob Benigus Winslow. Interestingly enough, Ihan teiko also includes lecture notes by a pupil of Udagawa, named Toshi or Shun Suwa. The sequence of anatomical structures elaborated in this text is as follows: brain, nerve, thoracic and abdominal viscera, arteries and veins, intestines, the mesentery (described as a 'double film'), lymphatic vessels, urogenital system, peritoneum, retina of the eye, blood, skin, subcutaneous tissue and fat, muscles, ligaments, bone, and cartilage. There is also a description of the physiology of digestion. Reference was made to a mysterious liquid, called reiki (literally, 'spirit water'), in connection with the function of the nerves; the belief being that this produced the clear liquids also found in the gall bladder, the pancreas, sweat glands, and in the composition of saliva, tears, etc., and was identified also with blood serum and lymph. Containing no illustrations, the text has an advertisement at the end which states that an atlas for Ihan teiko will be issued later... "This was done, and in 1808 appeared the remarkable atlas with the sub-title Naisho dohan-zu containing, so the postscript by Kincho or Ryuikei Sugita states, the first copper-plate engravings ever made in Japan for such a subject. The engravings were done by Denzen Aodo, the most famous Japanese engraver in the Edo period, and were reputed to have been copied so carefully that if they are compared with the original Dutch engravings no differences can be detected. The title leaf, bearing a medallion portrait of Stephen Blancard above a scene showing him dissecting, was done by one of Aodo's pupils, named Reikya [Reikyo] Arai. The sequence of engraved plates is as follows: brain, in situ and removed; spinal cord and system of nerves; tracheal, bronchial tree and lungs; heart and great vessels; vascular system; opening of the anterior abdominal wall to the greater omentum, showing the successive layers of skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscle and fascial coats, and peritoneum; dissection of the M. gastrocnemius to show the structure of its fibres; superficial muscles of the anterior and posterior aspects of the body; and fetus and immature skeleton. Each of the engraved plates is accompanied by an explanatory text on the opposite leaf."-Mestler, A Galaxy of Old Japanese Medical Books, Part I, pp. 315-16. A nice set. Lacking one leaf of the first Foreword in the text volume.