VIEW OF THE CITY OF BASEL IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
CHAPTER NINTH
Publication of the Fabrica
On the first day of August, 1542, after three years of strenuous labor, Vesalius completed the Fabrica, and twelve days later he wrote the last word of the Epitome. The blocks for the Fabrica, and also those for the Epitome, were made in Italy. In the summer of 1542 they were conveyed to Basel by a merchant named Danoni and were safely delivered to the printer, Oporinus. They were accompanied by a long Latin letter, written by Vesalius to his friend, “Joannes Oporinus, professor of Greek letters in Basel”. He begs Oporinus to take the greatest care that the printed illustrations shall correspond with the proofs which accompany the blocks. “Every detail must be distinctly visible, so that each cut shall have the effect of a picture”. Early in the following year Vesalius went to Basel to superintend the printing of his books. While there, he conducted a demonstration in anatomy—the first which had occurred in that city since 1531—and presented the articulated skeleton of the subject to the University. Part of this skeleton exists today. It is thought to be the oldest anatomical preparation in existence.
The Fabrica
The heart of Vesalius must have filled with joy when he saw the final page of his book turned from the press. The treatise which founded modern anatomy bears this title:—
Andreae Desalii Brurellensis, Scholae medicorum
Patabinae professoris, de humani corporis
fabrica Libri septem. Basileae.
MDXLIII
A fortune was lavished upon the illustration and publication of this grand work. To use the words of Fisher, “it was and is a glorious book, a rare and precious monument of genius, industry and liberality”. It abounds with curious initial letters bearing quaint and interesting anatomical conceits, each one teaching its lesson. One of these, reduced in size, introduces the present chapter; and it was this letter that Vesalius used in his opening sentence: Os caeterarum hominis partium est durissimum & ardissimum, maximaque terrestre & frigidum, & sensus denique praeter solos dentes expers.
JOANNES OPORINUS