Plate A, from Traité complet d l’anatomy de l’homme: Tome 7 (Complete Treatise of the Anatomy of Man: Volume 7), Jean-Baptiste Marc Bourgery; Nicolas Henri Jacob

Between 1830 and his death from cholera in 1849, French physician Jean-Baptiste Marc Bourgery collaborated with renowned veterinary illustrator Nicolas Henri Jacob to create Traité complet de l’anatomy de l’homme. This groundbreaking medical textbook and atlas is illustrated with more than 700 hand-colored lithographs. It compiles not only existing knowledge about human anatomy but also Bourgery’s new research methodologies and findings of the time. The work was especially influential in the field of embryology and in understanding the central nervous system. The detailed descriptions and plates, such as these depicting the human eye, were used as guides by doctors to perform a wide range of surgeries and corrective medical procedures.