The Fabrica: An Illustrated Exploration of Human Anatomy
A unique copy of one of the most important medical books to be printed
De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem
De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem by Andreas Vesalius, translating to "on the fabric of the human body in seven books", is a Renaissance masterpiece of artistic illustrations and medical descriptions.
The Fabrica has changed how human anatomy is understood and taught.
Andreas Vesalius
A physician, anatomist and illustrator, Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) created De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem aged 28, while he was a professor of medicine at Padua, Italy.
Vesalius took exceptional care in creating the book, closely supervising all stages of production.
Corrected printing error on page 262 of De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543) by Andreas Vesalius, Johannes Oporinus, Jan Stephan van Calcar, and Caspar NeefeOriginal Source: University of Sydney Library, RB Folio 8243.1
Printing errors
Despite Vesalius' close supervision to its production, one of the features of the first edition of De Humani Corporis Fabrica are the many printing errors.
A recent census found that while many owners found errors, no single owner managed to find and correct every error.
'The names for bones' from 'De Humani Corporis Fabrica' (1543) by Andreas Vesalius, Jan Stephan van Calcar, Joannes Oporinus, and Caspar NeefeOriginal Source: University of Sydney Library, RB Folio 8243.1
A unique and well used medical treasure
This copy belonged to German physician Caspar Neefe, and still has its original binding, unchanged for over 480 years.
It has been extensively annotated by Neefe, and many pages are hand coloured, showing us how the Fabrica was used by a contemporary physician to learn anatomy.
Interior Of Dissecting Room, Anderson Stuart Building, University of Sydney (1900s) by University of SydneyOriginal Source: University of Sydney Archives, REF-00053579
The history of medicine at the University of Sydney
The Medical school at the University of Sydney was Australia's first, founded in 1856.
The acquisition of this annotated copy of the Fabrica ties into our University’s history and proud tradition of teaching exceptional medical professionals.
Hundreds of years after the first owner of our Fabrica coloured and annotated his copy, our students continue to learn by annotating their medical textbooks.
Artistry in anatomy
Vesalius knew the importance of images for learning and worked with artists to create the hundreds of illustrations used in the Fabrica in Venice.
Jan van Calcar, former pupil of Titian is the creator of some of the illustrations in this incredible work.
Muscle Men from De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem (1543) by Andreas Vesalius, Jan Stephan van Calcar, Joannes Oporinus, and Caspar NeefeUniversity of Sydney Library
The "Muscle Men"
Vesalius and Calcar excelled in elevating medical illustration into an art form.
The “Muscle Men” are one example of this, and have been created in true Renaissance style.
Here, we have shown the muscle men together in their page order.
Background for Muscle Men from De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem (1543) by Andreas Vesalius, Jan Stephan van Calcar, Joannes Oporinus, and Caspar NeefeOriginal Source: University of Sydney Library, RB Folio 8243.1
Here we have removed the "Muscle Men" to focus on the landscape in the background. This is just one of the examples of artistic detail in the Fabrica.
While the location depicted has been debated for centuries, it is accepted by most to be of the Italian countryside.
Title page of the De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem (1543) by Andreas Vesalius, Johannes Oporinus, Jan Stephan van Calcar, and Caspar NeefeOriginal Source: University of Sydney Library, RB Folio 8243.1
Subtle messages in the title page illustration
The title page (or frontispiece) of the Fabrica is a complex and layered illustration.
The meaning behind the busy scene has captivated readers for hundreds of years. Here are some of our favourite scenes in the illustration.
The skeleton at the lectern
A skeleton stands in the place where a lecturer would normally be during a public anatomy lecture.
The meaning of this has been disputed, with some arguing it represents what the dead can teach the living, and others interpreting it as a criticism of the old style of teaching
Vesalius and the dissected body are front and centre
Vesalius is shown performing the dissection himself, traditionally done by a barber-surgeon while the lecturer read from the works of the ancient Greek physician, Galen.
One theory is that this scene represents the importance of learning hands-on from human specimens.
The old ways are at the end of the scene
Galen is shown looking away and towards a dog, symbolising that his knowledge of human anatomy came from dissecting animals, as human dissection was forbidden.
The men under the table represent butcher-surgeons whose roles have been reduced down to sharpening Vesalius' scalpels.
Decorated letters, (called "historiated initials") are found throughout the book, with cherubs or cupids ("putti") performing graphic and violent acts in the name of science throughout the Fabrica.
Below are some examples of the putti, vivisecting a pig, moving a body from the gallows for study, and removing a skull from a pot after boiling it to remove the soft tissue.
Most of the original pear wood print blocks used to print the illustrations in the Fabrica survived hundreds of years. The last book to use them was in 1934. They were destroyed during World War II during the Allied bombing of Munich.
The next two images were printed 391 years apart using the same printing block.
The image on the left is from the 1543 Fabrica, and the one on the right is from the 1934 printing.
Over time the print blocks were worn down, leading to the lines becoming thicker, with finer details lost. Where a line is damaged beyond repair or the wood has broken, a line no longer appears.
In the next two images, we invite you to look at some of the changes to the print over time.
Piracy and plagiarism
A major concern for Vesalius was piracy and plagiarism of his work after experiencing this with an earlier work he completed with van Calcar.
These fears were well founded, as pirated copies began to be created and sold almost immediately.
Countless anatomy and medical books also found the figures and poses in the Fabrica extremely "inspiring".
When illustrations were copied and not reversed when making a print block or engraving, the images are flipped when printed.
For some illustrations, this meant that organs appeared on the wrong side of the body.
Front cover of 'De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem' (1543) by Andreas Vesalius, Jan Stephan van Calcar, and Joannes OporinusUniversity of Sydney Library
A unique copy, now open for the world
This copy of De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem was purchased for the University of Sydney Library in 2023 with the support of the Margaret Lundie Fund, and B & A Osborn Book Fund.
It was privately held for hundreds of years, and is now publicly available for the first time
Photograph of the Interior Of Dissecting Room, Anderson Stuart Building courtesy of the University of Sydney Archives.
De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septum at the University of Sydney
Full digitised copy available through the Library Digital Collections
Physical copy viewable through Rare Books and Special Collections
Further reading
Joffe, S. N., & Buchanan, V. (2016). The Andreas Vesalius woodblocks: a four hundred year journey from creation to destruction. Acta medico-historica Adriatica: AMHA, 14(2), 347-372.
Lambert, S.W. (1952) 'The initial letters of the anatomical treatise, De Humani Corporis Fabrica, of Vesalius', in T. A. Malloch (ed.), 'Three Vesalian Essays to accompany the Icones Anatomicae of 1934' . New York: Macmillan, pp. 1-24
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