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Unrecorded Vesalius first edition discovered at Queen’s University

Posted: March 25th, 2015

In this 500th anniversary of the birth of Vesalius, it is fitting that at least one unrecorded copy of the first edition of his De humani corporis fabrica (1543) should be uncovered. This happened here at Queen’s University while we were examining books from the St. Mary’s Cathedral collection, now on permanent deposit in the W.D. Jordan Special Collections and Music Library. No finding aid existed for the collection, and the famous engraved title-page of De fabrica was not present in the book. The volume was also bound in blue paper boards, not a form one associates with 16th -century books.

Vesalius

Vesalius