Book Review

摘要

There is a stark contrast between the many volumes on the history of anatomical illustration and the relative dearth of book-length studies dedicated to the history of pathological illustration; just scan the relevant sections of for proof. Domenico Bertoloni Meli’s is an important step in reducing this disparity. His book attempts ‘to document key stages in the development of pathological illustrations’ (p. xiii). To show how illustrated pathological treatises became a ‘new medical genre’ (p. xi), Meli explores an impressive range of materials – from occasional woodcuts adorning sixteenth-century surgery texts to early nineteenth-century pathology tomes replete with numerous costly coloured plates. Meli concedes that his is ‘not a comprehensive study of independent treatises’ (p. 54). Rather, is a knowledgeable and authoritative survey of many of the most historically significant early works of pathological illustration. The book’s crowning glory (and testament to Meli’s curatorial efforts for the exhibition at Indiana University’s Lilly Library in 2013) is the 72 stunning illustrations that richly demonstrate this historical account.