Original and only edition of this celebrated anatomical treatise written by Jan Bleuland (1756-1838), a highly distinguished Dutch physician at Gouda and later - in part thanks to this publication - professor of medicine and anatomy at Utrecht University. Bleuland was famous for his pioneering technique of injecting coloured wax or liquids into microscopic blood vessels to make them clearly visible for study. Published in Utrecht by Bartholomé de Wild, the publication is a highly valued collectors item due to its early use of coloured anatomical plates to represent the human vascular system as true to life as possible. The preparations described here, became part of Bleulands extensive personal collection of anatomical specimens, which is still preserved today in the Bleuland Cabinet as part of the Utrecht University Museum.
Bleuland published a number of other illustrated anatomical works printed in colour, including his Observationes anatomico-medicae de sana et morbosa oesaphagi structura (Leiden 1785) with a plate engraved by the engraver and etcher Robert Muys (1742-1825); other artists who worked for Bleuland include Jan Kobell (1779-1814) and Martinus van der Jagt (1717-1859).
With some offsetting of the plate to the facing page (p. 8), and some foxing to the plate. Otherwise in very good condition. Cat. Bibliotheek Ned. Maatsch. Tot bevordering der Geneeskunst, I, p. 95; Meli, Visualizing Disease (2017), p. 85; NNBW, 1 (1911), cols. 70-71; Van der Zwaluw, "Dr. Jan Bleuland, man van de Verlichting", in: Tidinge van de Goude (Hist. Ver. Die Goude), 38 (2020), pp, 44-53.