Camper, Icones Herniarum, 1801
Petri Camperi Icones Herniarum. Editae Sam. Thom. Soemmering. Francofurti Moneum. Apud Varrentrapp et Wenner. 1801.
Atlas in half brown leather with marbled paper over boards. Rebacked and corners patched at some point. Boards and edges scuffed and bumped. 1889 ink inscription (last name Dudley) on ffep. Library stamps on title page, verso of plates, and last text page. Rare marginal puncture (pin?) holes. Margins ample. Mild foxing. Joints/hinges intact. Binding tight.
Ffep, title (3), I, II, 1-2, III - V, 3-4, VI – IX, 5-6, X – XII, 7-8, XIII – XIV, 9 – 16, rfep.
22 ½ x 17 ¾ x ¾ inches.
Petrus (Pieter) Camper (1722 - 1789). G-M 3580: “Camper illustrated his own work, and was an outstanding anatomical artist. His illustrations of hernias are of great value.”
“Camper, a Dutch physician, anatomist, and naturalist, was also an artist of great skill who illustrated all of his works. As an investigative anatomist, he made his mark as an anthropologist and craniologist. He made many original contributions to medicine, among them his discoveries of the processus vaginalis of the peritoneum and of the fibrous structures of the eye. Along with Albinus, Camper did much to influence trends in anatomic illustration toward making the figures lifelike and practical for the use of surgeons. The beautiful plates in this large volume are almost life-size.” (Heirs 951)
Samuel Thomas Von Soemmerring (1755 – 1830), the son of a physician, studied at Gottingen (under Wrisberg), England, Scotland, and the Netherlands. He was a friend of William Hunter as well as Pieter Camper. He was professor of anatomy at the Collegium Carolinum in Cassel, and later professor of medicine at Mainz. He was an admirer of Albinus and strove for anatomical illustrations with perfect accuracy. He was a skilled artist and trained Christian Kock to draw his plates. He published on the skeleton, embryology, the eye, cranial nerves, and even corsets. He also translated Matthew Baillie’s Morbid Anatomy into German in 1794. (Thornton 1966). He was also one of the inventors of the electric telegraph (Bibliotheca Osleriana 4001).
