STUBBS, George (1724-1806)

The Anatomy of the Horse: Including a Particular Description of the Bones, Cartilages, Muscles, Fascias. Ligaments, Nerves, Arteries, Veins, and Glands

London: J. Purser for the Author, 1766. Large oblong folio. (18 1/16 x 23 1/2 inches). On laid paper with text and plates mounted on guards throughout. 24 etched plates all by Stubbs.

Expertly bound to style in 18th-century half Russia over 18th-century marbled paper-covered boards, spine gilt in seven compartments with raised bands, red Morocco lettering-piece in the second compartment, the others with elaborate overall repeat decoration built up from various small tools. (Some expert restoration).

"A landmark in the history both of anatomy and art." (Ray). First edition, first or early issue on laid paper. One of a select group of books which can be said to have "revolutionized men's understanding of the natural world" (Lennox-Boyd). The etchings have a "fine exactness and austere beauty" that "give them a timeless beauty" (Ray).

The desirability of this work is vastly increased if the plates are printed on the thick laid paper, used for the 1766 first issue and for most other copies published during Stubbs's lifetime: the printing of the plates shows a precision that is somehow lacking in the later impressions printed on wove paper. The present example is printed on laid paper throughout. Examples on laid paper are increasingly difficult to find - even the Duke of Gloucester's copy (which sold for over $34,000 at auction in London) was on wove paper. Stubbs produced the drawings over an 18 month period, working from a number of "models" and keeping each carcass in his studio for as long as six or seven weeks. In order to produce this work he taught himself how to etch, as he had been unable to find an engraver. "The work appeared in 1766, and remained the standard authority on the subject for nearly a century . . . In 1771 . . . Camper . . . whose work on the relationship of art to anatomy had won international recognition, wrote to Stubbs, comparing his work with that of the great Albinus, whose Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum Corporis Humani had appeared in 1749. It is entirely appropriate to rank The Anatomy of the Horse with Thomas Pennant's British Zoology (1770) and Gilbert White's Natural History of Selbourne (1789), among the most important of the several works of this time which, by emphasizing the importance of precise systematic observation, revolutionized men's understanding of the natural world" (Lennox-Boyd).

Dingley Comben 600. Eales (Cole) 1840. Garrison-Morton 308.1. Huth p.42. Lennox-Boyd pp.165-168. Nissen ZBI 4027. Norman 2032 (later issue). Podeschi, Mellon Collection 57. Ray p.6. Sparrow pp.165-188.

Item #41453

Price: $28,000.00