Spicilegium anatomicum. Howard Kelly's copy with his bookplate

Kerckring, Theodor (1640-93). Spicilegium anatomicum, continens observationum anatomicarum rariorum centuriam unam, nec non osteogeniam foetuum . . . [22], 280pp. Engraved frontispiece and 9 engraved plates; engraved text illustrations. Amsterdam: Sumptibus Andreae Frisii, 1670. 237 x 188 mm. Vellum ca. 1670, lower edge of spine chipped, inner front hinge cracked, some spotting and soiling. Front margin of frontispiece repaired, light foxing and toning, a few edges frayed but very good. From the library of Howard A. Kelly (1858-1943), with his bookplate on the front pastedown; also with the bookplate of Terence Cavanagh, onetime librarian at the Duke University Hospital Library.

First Edition. "Kerckring made important investigations on the development of the foetal bones. He was the first to describe the large ossicle sometimes present at the lambdoidal suture; his name is remembered in the valvulae conniventes of the small intestine, previously described by Fallopius" (Garrison-Morton.com 383). The book's chapter on osteogenia foetum "presumes to give an account of the fetal skeleton from the second month to the end of gestation. [Kerckring] stated correctly that only a little of the skeleton can be found during the second month, and rightly concluded that the bones arise from a transformation of membranous into cartilaginous parts and of these into bone" (Meyer, The Rise of Embryology, p. 297).

This copy is from the library of Howard A. Kelly, one of the original "Four Physicians" of Johns Hopkins, who was a major figure in the development of abdominal and gynecological surgery.