Anatomie des parties de la génération, et de ce qui concerne la grossesse et l'accouchement, jointe a l'angéologie de tout le corps humain, avec des planches imprimées en couleur / Exposition anatomique des maux veneriens sur les parties de l'homme et de la femme, et les remedes les plus usites dans ces sortes de maladies

Paris: J. B. Brunet et Demonville, 1778. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Large Folio. Anatomie des parties de la génération, et de ce qui concerne la grossesse et l'accouchement, jointe a l'angéologie de tout le corps humain, avec des planches imprimées en couleur.Seconde édition, augmentée de la coupe de la symphise. Paris: Demonville, 1778. Large Folio (410 x 283 mm). [6], 34, [2] pp. and 10 color mezzotint plates, signed Gautier d'Agoty père, plates I to VIII dated 1773, two plates on the "cup of the symphise" added in this edition: plate IX dated 1773 and Plate X (engraved), dated 1779. Includes the unnumbered leaf "Table Génerale et détachee", the unnumbered errata/privilege leaf, and the final unnumbered leaf "Opération de la Symphise". [Bound with:] Exposition anatomique des maux veneriens sur les parties de l'homme et de la femme, et les remedes les plus usites dans ces sortes de maladies. Paris: J. B. Brunet et Demonville, 1773. 26 pp. and 4 color mezzotint plates, signed and dated "par G. Dagoty père 1773," of male and female genitals afflicted by venereal disease. Wanting the title-leaf only. This second work is misbound between the preliminary and the numbered text leaves of the first work. Bound in contemporary French cat's-paw sheepskin, gilt-decorated and ruled spine with 6 raised bands and red morocco lettering-piece in first compartment, red-dyed edges, marbled endpapers (minor repair to hinges, spine-ends and leather over lower board). Text and plates with light even browning, occasional minor spotting, marginal dust- and finger-soiling, single small wormhole throughout, old paper repair of tear at gutter of one plate outside print area. Provenance: from a French private collection. Excellent copy with text and all the plates present as called for. ----

SECOND, ENLARGED, EDITION of the first work and FIRST EDITION of the second. These two works are the last large anatomical plate-books made by Jacques-Fabien Gautier d'Agoty. The first, L'Anatomie des Parties de la Géneration, "begins with tall plates of man and of woman, each formed from two sheets and folding out from the book . . . These first plates showing muscles, arteries and the nervous system are worked out and tabulated in detail. Behind the man is a ghostly arm and shoulder showing the patterns of veins. Among other adjuncts by his foot is an elegant wine-glass meant to demonstrate the texture of male semen mixed with water 'dans le moment de l'éjaculation' . . . The female figure is a typical Gautier plate, stripped and dissected but with healthy head and throat, charming classical face and hair in perfect order, standing poised as a dance . . . In the next folding illustration we find a fair instance of his semi-erotic treatment of a scientific theme - one woman standing in profile, her living head looking back to us above a naked breast; the womb open, with folded figure of a foetus. At her feet and knees, almost in a lesbian attitude, a nude figure finely modeled sits to show the 'parties de la generation', and from the front her dissected womb. The final folding illustration is of a similar sort, two figures of which the lower seems a curiously relaxed classical nude with impeccable hair, her child just born and resting on her lap, the umbilical cord still uncut. Womb and child are in the open dissection. At the mother's feet is a debris of placenta and cords as if they have not yet been cleared from last night's party" (Franklin, Early Colour Printing, pp. 47-48). A text sheet and 2 plates, including one dated 1779, which is therefore the last known plate by Gautier d'Agoty, illustrate the operation of the symphysis, intended to avoid a cesarean section. Our copy has the plates in the original, unassembled state and includes the general index, errata leaf often absent from other copies. For literature, see also, Sappol, Dream Anatomy, p.116-7; NLM/Blake 169; Wellcome III, p.97 (first ed.); Choulant-Frank p.272.
The second work is an exposition of the pathology of veneral diseases, in particular of syphilis. "These four plates, two male and two female, are more simply medical than much of his other work - the affected parts are truly shown, but not with whole figure or face" (Franklin). NLM/Blake 169; Wellcome III, p.97; Choulant-Frank p.272; Franklin, Early Colour Printing p. 47,V; Goldschmid p.67f - Visit our website for additional images and information!