COWPER, WILLIAM. 1666-1709.


Myotomia Reformata: Or an Anatomical Treatise on the Muscles of the Human Body. Illustrated with Figures after the Life.... London: Robert Knaplock, William and John Innys, and Jacob Tonson, 1724. Folio (510 x 332 mm). Engraved frontispiece, title printed in red and black, double-page engraved table, and 67 engraved plates (numbered 1-66, plate 13 in 2 states), engraved illustrations, diagrams, head- and tail-pieces and initials. Rebound in modern full calf retaining contemporary spine, gilt in 8 compartments. Minor wear and browning. FIRST FOLIO EDITION, remarkable not only for the quality of the large plates but for "the ingenious historiated initials wittily decorated with myotomical motifs" (Norman). First appearing in 1694 in an octavo edition with only 10 plates, it was brought into this richly illustrated folio form by Richard Mead (1673-1754) after Cowper's death, using plates by Michael Vender Gucht (1660-1725), some after drawings by Rubens and Raphael. Choulant-Frank, p 253; Garrison-Morton 392.1; Heirs of Hippocrates 723; Norman 530; Osler 2384; Russell 210; Wellcome II, p 401.