Malpighii, M. — Opera Posthuma, Figuris Aeneis Illustrata. Quibus Praefixa Est Ejusdem Vita a Seipso Scripta.

1697 (1st ed.) [2], 10, 187, [1] p., 19 engraved pls, engraved portrait, engraved frontispiece (depicting three sleeping leopards under a tree and in front of a stone with inscription ''Importu Dormiunt''), roy. 4to (24 x 36 cm), contemporary blindstamped calf (edges and extremeties worn, covers detached, needs rebacking). Three (two old) ex libri/bookplates. Frontispiece placed in front of the plates at the end of the book. Some very slight scattered foxing, and a unobtrusive small waterstain in the upper margin of the plates and title-pages. Rare first edition (A. & J. Churchill, London)! Marcello Malpighi (1628-94), Italian physician and anatomist, was professor of physic at Pisa, Bologna, and Messina, and was physician to Pope Innocent XII. Malpighi was the founder of histology and one of the greatest microscopists. In 1660 he was the first to see the capillary anastomosis between the arteries and the veins, thus helping the completion of HarveyâÇÖs work on the circulation. He was a great embryologist; his name is perpetuated in ''Malpighian bodies'', ''MalpighiâÇÖs layer'' of the epidermis, ''MalpighiâÇÖs (splenic) Corpuscles''» (Garrison & Morton, n. 66, p. 10).