Detail from plate 7 - engraved anatomical illustration of the bones of the thigh and knee from: Anatomy improv'd and illustrated with regard to the uses thereof in designing. (London: John Senex, 1723).

This volume of engraved plates and text was originally published in Rome in 1691, and was re-engraved and republished in London in 1723. The dissections were done for the Italian edition by Bernardino Genga, Professor of Anatomy and Surgery and physician in the hospital of San Spirito in Rome, and the explanatory text by the papal physician Giovanni Maria Lancisi (1654-1720). The book, designed for artists rather than medical students, includes plates of famous classical statues from Rome and is described as 'A work of great use to painters, sculptors, statuaries and all others studious in the noble arts of design'.

The English edition is dedicated by the publisher to Richard Mead, FRCP, FRS (1673-1754), 'a favourer of the politer arts'.

Part of the Anatomical Atlases in Special Collections & Archives, SPEC Anatomy 6. Cropped inscription on the titlepage, 'Tho. Dixon's Book 1799' and the pencilled name' Miss Annie Jackson, 19 North Street' on the front flyleaf, with pencil measurements possibly from a dissected skeleton on the back of the last (index) page.

The volume has had some plates cut out, but has also been grangerised with later anatomical illustrations pasted in. Images from Special Collections & Archives, the University of Liverpool.