Crooke, Mikrokosmographia, A Description of the Body of Man, 1631
MIKROKOSMOGRAPHIA (in greek)
A Description of the Body of Man. Together with the Controversies Thereto Belonging. Collected and Translated out of all the Best Authors of Anatomy, Especially out of Gasper Bauhinus and Andreas Laurentius. By Helkiah Crooke Doctor of Physick. Published by the Kings Maiesties especiall Direction and Warrant according to the first integrity, as it was originally written by the Author. The second Edition corrected and enlarged. Printed at London by Thomas and Richard Cotes, and are to be sold by Michael Sparke, dwelling at the blue Bible in Greene Arbor, 1631.
Includes:
An Explanation of the Fashion and use of three and fifty Instruments of Chirurgery. Gathered out of Ambrosius Pareus, the famous French Chirurgian, and done into English, for the behoofe of young Practitioners in Chirurgery, by H.C. London Printed for Michael Sparke, 1631.
Folio in modern full brown leather with gold text and raised bands on spine. Some mild scratching and scuffing of leather. Mild shelf wear. Red speckled page edges. New end papers. Paper repairs to title and subsequent four leaves. Gutter tape repair to title with partial obscuring of engraving. Small tear at bottom of Pare title page, far from text and engraving. Two mis-bound leaves (f2 and errata) following title. Lacking additional engraved title, V5 (pg 223/224), and X2 & X3 (pg 229-232). Last leaf (e6, pg 59/60 of Pare) having been torn across immediately below Finis. Additional occasional small marginal tears, some with repairs. All else is clean, bright, and tight throughout.
Helkiah Crooke was a native of Suffolk. He obtained his M.D. in 1597. He was later appointed physician to James I. His Microcosmographia is a general treatise on anatomy and is based largely upon the works of Bauhin and Laurentius. Interestingly, though Harvey was already lecturing and publishing on the circulation of the blood, Crooke did not absorb this new teaching, even in this second edition. (Dictionary of National Biography). The work is significant for being an early anatomic work by an Englishman and written in English. It’s mere existence links English anatomy to continental Anatomy and also to Vesalius and Pare. Indeed, the surgical component is the first publication of any part of Pare’s Oeuvre into English (predating the 1634 first English edition of Pare’s Works).
The illustrations in the Microcosmographia are thoroughly Vesalian, further evidencing the impact of the Fabrica on science and medicine in the 16th and 17th centuries. Crooke was not alone in “borrowing” from Vesalius:
“The figures of Vesalius were copied and plagiarized from the beginning. Among the more shameless were Ambrose Pare (1510-90) who reproduced them without acknowledgement in 1551 and afterwards, and Helkiah Crook (1576-1635), who plagiarized them in 1615. The latter, particularly, adds insult to injury by accusing Vesalius of having slighted Galen!” (Singer, 134)
Copiously illustrated with 2 title page engravings plus 216 figures (46 in the Pare section). Also numerous engraved capitals. Engraving on Pare title page is a variant of wound man.
Ffep, blank, 32, 1012 (less 6), title, 60 (less torn component), blank, rfep.
Waller 2218.
