Historical Anatomies Home > Browse Titles

Images have been selected from the following anatomical atlases in the National Library of Medicine's collection. Each atlas is linked to a brief Author & Title Description, which offers an historical discussion of the work, its author, the artists, and the illustration technique. The Bibliographic Information link provides a bibliographical description of the atlas, so users will know which edition was scanned and if there are any characteristics special to the Library's copy.
Click on the thumbnail to the left of the title to view images from the atlas.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - K - L - M - Q - P - R - S - T - V

A full length frontal view of a flayed corpse in a landscape. Its left arm is extended and carved into a rock behind the corpse is Bern Siegf Albini Tabulae Anatomicae Musculorum Hominis. Author: Albinus, Bernhard Seigfried (1697–1770).

Title: Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis humani.

Publication Information: London: H. Woodfall; J. & P. Knapton, 1749.

Illustrations, in ink and opaque watercolors, of a male figure with his abdomen and chest opened to reveal the internal organs; his right hand holds a second set of genitalia, and a horn is in his other hand, with a sketch of the liver and gallbladder in the upper left corner. Author: Anonymous.

Title: Persian Anatomical Illustrations.

Publication Information: [Iran or Pakistan, ca. 1680–1750].


Manuscript drawing of a disembodied head laying on a wooden plank with all the skin removed, showing the muscles of the face in detail; the head is face up at an angle with eyes slightly open; there is manuscript text in Dutch on the left side of the page. Author: Anonymous.

Title: [Treatise on physiognomy].

Publication Information: [Netherlands?, ca. 1790].

Woodcut of male anatomical figure raising the skin to give a view of his abdominal muscles, with a woodcut border and text in Latin on the right side of page. Author: Berengario da Carpi, Jacopo (ca. 1460–ca. 1530).

Title: Isagogae breues, perlucidae ac uberrimae in anatomiam humani corporis.

Publication Information: Bologna: Benedictus Hector, 1523.


Engraving of a dissected hand with muscles and sinews of the back of the forearm and hand separated with dissecting tools for a detailed view; the forearm and had are laying in a downward direction and pinned to a wooden board. Author: Bidloo, Govard (1649–1713).

Title: Ontleding des menschelyken lichaams.

Publication Information: Amsterdam: Weduwe van Joannes van Someren, et al., 1690.

Side Skeletal View of a Walrus Author: Blainville, H. M. Ducrotay (1777–1850).

Title: Osté́ographie : ou Description iconographique comparé́e du squelette et du systè̀me dentaire

Publication Information: Paris : J. B. Baillière, 1839–64.


Chromolithograph showing the musculature of the upper half of the back of the human body. Author: Bouglé, Julien (1868–1903).

Title: Le corps humain en grandeur naturelle: planches coloriées et superposées, avec texte explicatif.

Publication Information: Paris: J. B. Baillière et fils, 1899.

Engraving of two male anatomical figures shown from the waist up, the one of the left facing the viewer holding a human head in his right hand, the one on the right with his back to the viewer holding up a human ear in his right hand. Author: Bourdon, Amé (1636 or 1638–1706).

Title: Nouvelles tables anatomiques.

Publication Information: Cambray: Chez l'autheur; Paris: Laurens d'Houry, 1678.


Chromolithograph of the cross-section of an adult male head and thorax of an individual facing to the left, exposing the brain, spinal column, moth, trachea, longs, heart and other organs and structures.

Author: Braune, Wilhelm (1831–1892).

Title: Topographisch-anatomischer Atlas : nach Durchschnitten an gefrornen Cadavern.

Publication Information: Leipzig: Verlag von Veit & Comp., 1867–1872.

Brunschwig Titlepage Author: Brunschwig, Hieronymus, (ca. 1450-ca. 1512).

Title: Liber de arte distillandi de compositis.

Publication Information: Strassburg : Johann Grüninger, 1512.


Engraving of a kneeling skeleton viewed from the side, looking up with hands together in prayer. Author: Cheselden, William (1688–1752).

Title: Osteographia, or The anatomy of the bones.

Publication Information: London: [William Bowyer], 1733.

Manuscript drawing of bearded nude male muscle figure in classical pose tied by his left hand and foot to a tree signed at bottom. Author: Clorion.

Title: [Anatomical illustrations].

Publication Information: New Harmony, 1830.


Woodcut illustration of two anatomical figures standing side by side showing the musculature in detail viewing the body from the front and the back, from Jehan Cousin’s Livre de pourtraiture, NLM Call no.: WZ 250 C8673L 1608. Author: Cousin, Jehan, (1522–1593).

Title: Livre de pourtraiture.

Publication Information: Paris: Jean Leclerc, 1608.

Engraved title page with allegorical scene featuring a goddess of wisdom seated on a throne with an angel above her blowing a horn, the throne engraved with the books title, and to the left underneath is an older bearded angel holding a scientific instrument in his left had, and in the bottom right corner are three babies looking at a skull and dissected arm; in the background is a Greek temple and two skeletons conversing. Author: Cowper, William (1666–1709).

Title: The anatomy of humane bodies.

Publication Information: Oxford : Printed at the Theater, for Sam. Smith and Benj. Walford, 1698.


Woodcut image of two standing nude female figures bending to the left side at the waist and looking to the right, the one on the left facing the viewer and the one on the right in profile facing to the right, both with horizontal lines cutting across the figures showing proportions, for instance from the bottom of the chin to the top of the shoulder. Author: Dürer, Albrecht (1471–1528).

Title: Vier Bücher von menschlicher Proportion.

Publication Information: Nuremberg: Hieronymus Formschneyder, 1528.

Woodcut of a nude male figure seated on a Classically decorated marble bench facing to the right, with the cadaver giving a view of the top of his head with the top of the skull and most of the brain removed to show interior of the brain case; to the left is a tablet naming the structures in Latin.

Author: Estienne, Charles (ca. 1504–ca. 1564).

Title: De dissectione partium corporis humani libri tres.

Publication Information: Paris: Simon Colinaeus, 1545.


Hand-colored etching of a facing standing figure with flesh removed to expose the muscles showing the pathways of the nerves, with emphasis on the nerves just below the skin; the figure is in a classical pose resembling a javelin thrower looking to the left side of the page with his left hand raised and bent at the elbow and right had extended forward. Author: Eustachi, Bartholomeo (d. 1574).

Title: Tabulae anatomicae.

Publication Information: Rome: P. Junchus, 1783.

Frontview of a human skeleton Author: Fotherby, John.

Title: Anatomy, 1729–30.


Engraving of a facing standing male muscle figure with legs standing apart and holding a staff in his left hand, showing the muscles of the chest, torso, abdomen, arms and legs. Author: Gamelin, Jacques (1738–1803).

Title: Nouveau receuil d'ostéologie et de myologie.

Publication Information: Toulouse: J. F. Desclassan, 1779.

Color mezzotint of a human figure viewed from behind with most of the flesh removed to reveal the muscles and skeleton of the back of the head, shoulders and back. Author: Gautier d'Agoty, Jacques Fabian (1717–1786).

Title: Anatomie generale des viscères en situation, de grandeur et couleur naturelle, avec l'angeologie, et la nevrologie de chaque partie du corps humain.

Publication Information: [Paris: Gautier?, 1752].


Engraving of the statue of Laocoon without his sons or the large snake which ate them; the nude facing seated figure has his left arm raised in struggle clenched in a fist as his right arm pushes down at his side, also with a clenched fist; his face faces the viewer with a look of struggle and agony. Author: Genga, Bernardino (1620–1690).

Title: Anatomia per uso et intelligenza del disegno.

Publication Information: Rome: Domenico de Rossi, 1691.

An illustration of a full-length frontal view of a man with wounds from many different kinds of weapons. Author: Gersdorff, Hans von (d. 1529).

Title: Feldtbůch der Wundartzney : newlich getruckt und gebessert.

Publication Information: Strassburg: Hans Schotten zům Thyergarten, [1528].


The title page from volume 1 of Conrad Gessner's Conradi Gesneri medici Tigurini Historiae animalium, featuring a colorized coat of arms at the bottom of the page. Author: Gessner, Konrad (1516–1565).

Title: Conradi Gesneri medici Tigurini Historiae animalium.

Publication Information: Tigvri : Apvd Christ. Froschovervm, anno MDLI[–MDLXXXVII] [1551–1587].

A handcolored illustration of a surgeon in a brown robe wearing glasses is cutting out a tumor from a patient. A set of hands to the left of the surgeon holds a rope attached to the end of the tumor the surgeon is removing. Liquid from the tumor drips down the left side of the patient into a small bowl. Author: Hanaoka, Seishū, (1760–1835).

Title: Kishitsu geryō zukan.


Human Body front view with major muscles labeled Author: Hofmann, Christian Gottlieb, (1743–1797).

Title: Succincta descriptio ossium et musculorum corporis humani.

Publication Information: Nürnberg, 1783.

Engraving of Robert Hooke’s microscope at bottom right of page, with other parts of the apparatus in the top half of the page. Author: Hooke, Robert, (1635–1703).

Title: Micrographia : or, Some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses : with observations and inquiries thereupon.

Publication Information: London : Printed by Jo. Marten, and Ja. Allestry ... and are to be sold at their shop ..., 1665.


Woodcut showing the Jueyin liver meridian of foot of a standing male facing figure wearing a loin cloth with meridians indicated down the chest and leg with Chinese characters giving names of the points. Author: Hua, Shou (1304–1386).

Title: Jushikei hakki (Shi si jing fa hui. Japanese & Chinese).

Publication Information: [Tokyo]: Suharaya Heisuke kanko, Kyoho gan [1716].

A figure indicating the body organs. Author: Hundt, Magnus (1449–1519).

Title: Antropologium de hominis dignitate...

Publication Information: Leipzig: Wolfgang Stöckel, 1501.


The cross section of a detached uterus with a fetus inside. Author: Hunter, William (1718–1783).

Title: Anatomia uteri humani gravidi tabulis illustrata = The anatomy of the human gravid uterus exhibited in figures.

Publication Information: Birmingham: John Baskerville, 1774.

Hand colored woodcut of the internal organs viewed from the rear with lungs and heart at top, stomach and liver in the middle and intestines and bladder at the bottom with Japanese text describing some of the structures.

Author: Kawaguchi, Shinnin (1736–1811).

Title: Kaishi hen

Publication Information: Heian [Kyoto]: Hakubundō Tanaka Ichibe, Meiwa 9 [1772].


The dissection of a cadaver. This is the first realistic depiction of an anatomy lecture held at a university, namely in an academic hall at the University of Padua. In the chair, a relatively junior doctor, the lector, is set to recite from Mondino’s Anathomia. Behind the table, to the right, a senior doctor begins to point, in his role of demonstrator or ostensor. The basket in front will collect all the parts, to be carefully reunited with the corpse for burial. Author: Ketham, Johannes de (15th century).

Title: Fasiculo de medicina.

Publication Information: Venice: Zuane & Gregorio di Gregorii, 1494.

The left page an illustration of the titlepage of the frontispiece of A. Vesalii en Valverda Anatomie by Juan Valverde de Amusco published in Amsterdam in 1647. Author: Kulmus, Johann Adam (1689–1745).

Title: Kaitai shinsho.

Publication Information: Tōbu [Tokyo]: Suharaya Ichibē shi, An'ei 3 [1774].


The frontal view of a flayed corpse standing on a sphere displaying the muscles of the front of the body. Author: Laskowski, Sigismond (b. 1841).

Title: Anatomie normale du corps humain: atlas iconographique de XVI planches.

Publication Information: [Genève: Braun, 1894].

The muscle figure, shown frontally, with extensive captions describing the muscles. Author: Mansur ibn Ilyas (fl. ca. 1390).

Title: Tashrih-i badan-i insan. [Anatomy of the Human Body].

Publication Information: [Iran, ca. 1390].


Typeset title page of Ambroise Paré’s Oeuvres, with large ornamental woodcut border. Author: Paré, Ambroise (1510?–1590).

Title: [Les Oeuvres]

Publication Information: A Paris : Chez Gabriel Buon, 1585.

An upper and lower image. In the top image has the head and shoulders right side view of a man with a long nose and forehead and a dog. The bottom image has the head and shoulders front view of man on the left and a bull on the right. Author: Porta, Giambattista della (1535–1615).

Title: De humana physiognomonia libri IIII.

Publication Information: Vici Aequensis [Vico Equense]: I. Cacchium, 1586.


The Simurgh, known in the West as the Phoenix, a very large brid taking up the upper third of the page with a blue body and yellow and red flame-like wings and tail, the tail expanding out beyond the text border and off the page at the upper left corner, surrounded by Persian text and a red double ruled border. Author: al-Qazwīnī, Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad.

Title: ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) كتاب عجائب المخلوقات وغرائب الموجودات

Publication Information: 944 [1537 or 1538].

The upper body of a male corpse with the head tilted back to the right. The chest cavity has been removed to show the vascular system leading to the head. Author: Quain, Richard (1800–1887).

Title: The anatomy of the arteries of the human body, with its applications to pathology and operative surgery.

Publication Information: London: Printed for Taylor and Walton, 1844.


The underneath of a horse with the abdominal cavity exposed. Author: Ruini, Carlo (1530–1598).

Title: Anatomia del cavallo, infermità, et suoi rimedii.

Publication Information: Venice: Fioravante Prati, 1618.

Front and back views of myopgrahie, neurographie and angeographie or the muscles, nerves and blood vessels of the body. Author: Sarlandière, Jean-Baptiste (1787–1838).

Title: Anatomie méthodique...

Publication Information: Paris: Chez les libraires de médecine, et chez l'auteur, 1829.


Interior view of the human head and thorax, showing blood and lymph vessels, and nerves Author: Scarpa, Antonio (1752–1832).

Title: Tabulae neurologicae : ad illustrandam historiam anatomicam...

Publication Information: cini [Pavia] : Apud Balthassarem Comini ..., 1794.

Explanations, and an abridgment, of the practice of midwifery, featuring the illustrated drawing of a woman's pelvis and uterus with twin fetus. Author: Smellie, William (1697–1763).

Title: A sett of anatomical tables... of the practice of midwifery.

Publication Information: London: [s.n.], 1754.


A female figure with womb exposed displaying a fetus within the placenta. Author: Spiegel, Adriaan van (1578–1625) and Casseri, Giulio (ca. 1552–1616).

Title: De formato foetu liber singularis.

Publication Information: Padua: Io. Bap. de Martinis & Livius Pasquatus, [1626].

Engraving of two skulls lacking mandibles, the top facing directly at the viewer and the bottom one facing off to the right Author: Spiegel, Adriaan van (1578–1625) and Casseri, Giulio (ca. 1552–1616).

Title: De humani corporis fabrica libri decem.

Publication Information: Venice: Evangelista Deuchino, 1627.


Left side view of a cat, some bones exposed, showing muscles deep to some bones Author: Straus-Durckheim, Hercule (1790–1865).

Title: Anatomie descriptive et comparative du chat.

Publication Information: ris : Chez l’auteur, 1845.

Human skeleton, front view, pelvis up Author: Trew, Christoph Jacob (1695–1769).

Title: Tabulae osteologicae.

Publication Information: Norimbergae : [s.n.], 1767.


A flayed cadaver holds his skin in his right hand and a dissecting knife in the other. Author: Valverde de Amusco, Juan (ca. 1525–ca. 1588).

Title: Anatomia del corpo humano.

Publication Information: Rome: Ant. Salamanca and Antonio Lafrery, 1560.

The titlepage of Andreas Vesalius' De corporis humani fabrica libri septem, featuring Vesalius performing a dissection in a crowded anatomical theatre. There are previous ownership signatures of Sam. Redeschinsky à Radescho and Isaacus Schallerus on the bottom right corner. Author: Vesalius, Andreas (1514–1564).

Title: De humani corporis fabrica libri septem.

Publication Information: Basel: Joannes Oporinus, 1543.


The side view of a the head of a French solider, with the dura mater removed. Author: Vimont, Joseph (1795–1857).

Title: Traité de phrénologie humaine et comparée.

Publication Information: Paris: J. B. Baillière, 1832–35.

The side view of a the head of a French solider, with the dura mater removed. Author: Voigtlander, Carl Friedrich.

Title: Die Anatomie des Pferdes.

Publication Information: Dresden, F. Meinhold, 1876.


Back To Top Back to top