Eckles' Anatomical Aid [with illustrated overlays and two original anatomical drawings]

Philadelphia, PA: H.S. Eckles & Co, 1905. Very Good. Philadelphia, PA: H. S. Eckles & Co., ca. 1905. Interior plates dated 1903 with 1905 date stamped on exterior. Portfolio (15.25 inches x 11.5 inches) with a metal clasp, contains 8 full-color illustrations, four with various overlays of anatomical detail and four black and white illustrations. Accompanied by two elaborate, hand-drawn and colored anatomy charts (14 inches x 22 inches), folded, of the venous system and the arterial system, along with a typed two-sided corresponding list. Charts possible later with Miller Jr's ownership signature to verso (see below).

Portfolio moderately worn with brief exposure and minor fraying. Soiling to interior and and light wear to illustrations and overlays, in particular near clasps. Charts well worn and cracked along folds with tape remnants to edges. Overall Very Good with evidence of frequent use. OCLC notes an accompanying book published by Eckels, rather scarce and not included here, and a similar aid was produced by a James Knox over a decade prior. Eckels was a feisty embalmer, often tussling in the press and was successfully sued for plagiarism, so it is not shocking to see some of Knox's images recreated here.

Of particular note are the 6 full-color anatomical diagrams with flaps that unfold to give students a visual, detailed representation the human body: the Body (10 layers), Head (3 layers), Ear (3 layers) and Eye (5 layers), Arm (5 layers) and Leg (5 layers) variously noting injection points and "bony landmarks," the latter in manuscript. The eye diagram alone includes a tissue-paper layer and a blue cellophane-like layer, visually and pedagogically impressive.

This embalming aid was owned by Earl Clifton Miller (1887 - 1966) who studied at the Eckles College of Embalming, formerly located in Philadelphia, Pa. Miller went on to run a funeral home in Mercer, Pa. The accompanying hand-drawn anatomical charts are signed by Earl C. Miller Jr. (1913 - 1988), who followed in his father's footsteps, this time at the Pittsburgh Embalming School, and later returned to work in the family business. An informative and compelling tour into the embalmer's art and practice in the early 20th century.

[Mayer. Embalming History, Theory, and Practice. Fourth Edition, 2006].