The publication of Vesalius’s Seven books on the fabric of the human body and its companion Epitome is a key moment in the revival of anatomical study. Vesalius used the work to promote the value of dissection, a skill he learned as a student and practised as a lecturer in surgery at the University of Padua.
The innovative detachable cut-out manikin in this copy of Vesalius's De humani corporis fabrica has been extraordinarily well preserved.