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GRAY, Henry.
Anatomy descriptive and surgical.
The drawings by H. V. Carter, M.D. lecturer on anatomy at Saint George's Hospital. The dissections jointly by the author and Dr. Carter.
First edition of the medical text which has been more widely used by successive generations of medical students and doctors than any other. Not only an important book of reference, Gray's Anatomy has become a household phrase. "The success of the book was not due to an absence of rivals. There were already several texts on anatomy … Gray's Anatomy, however, eclipsed all others, partly for its meticulous detail, partly for its emphasis on surgical anatomy, but most of all perhaps for the excellence of the illustrations, based on drawings by H. V. Carter, who assisted Gray with the dissections, and engraved by Messrs Butterworth and Heath with remarkable skill. The design of the book, and the skill with which the illustrations were interpolated in the text, could hardly have been improved" (ODNB). "This lasting and monumental work, produced by a young man who dies young, must be compared to the Fabrica of Vesalius, who produced his great work before the age of thirty years" (Heirs to Hippocrates).
Royal octavo. Original bead-grain brown cloth blocked in blind, neatly rebacked with original spine laid down, brick-red endpapers. Profusely illustrated with line-drawn diagrams to the text. Bookseller's ticket to front pastedown. Bookplate of W. T. Smith, and with his ink stamp to the half-title and title pages, Westminster School of Medicine label and hours of operation tipped-in to front free endpaper. Page number 369 out of sequence but no actual pages lacking. Rebacked, as noted, joints professionally repaired, wear to corners, cloth mottled, light toning and spotting to contents. A very good copy.
