Vicq-d'Azyr, Félix.

2 volumes of text and atlas (parts I-IV only), folio (534 x 343mm.), half title, allegorical frontispiece printed in colour and finished by hand, engraved explanation leaf, 69 engraved plates (26 diagrammatical line engravings with 26 corresponding colour-printed aquatint plates by Alexandre Briceau, a single line-engraved plate (XVIII) from Soemmering, De basi encephali [1778], without the 16 plates published as part V), contemporary half morocco, edges uncut, spotting, browning and soiling, binding rubbed

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, inkstamp on half-title and other leaves

First edition of the finest neuroanatomical work produced before the advent of microscopy. Vicq-d'Azyr was an eminent anatomist whose studies and descriptions of gross morphology were among the most accurate of his day. He was also a successful physician, counting Marie-Antoinette among his patients. The present work was planned as a multi-volume set with subscribers free to pick and choose from the various issues. The work was interrupted by the French Revolution and the subsequent death of the author.