Autograph letter signed to Ferdinand Fäsebeck
Publisher Information: Amsterdam: 1842.
Vrolik, Willem (1801-63). Autograph letter signed, in French, to German surgeon and anatomist Ferdinand Faesebeck (1809-1900). 1 – 1/2pp. plus integral address leaf. Amsterdam, 16 October 1842. 273 x 219 mm. Lacuna where seal was broken, not affecting text, slight soiling along folds, but very good.
From Dutch anatomist and pathologist Willem Vrolik, a pioneer in the field of vertebrate teratology. Vrolik was the author of several works on pathological anatomy, including the classic Tabulae ad illustrandam embryogenes in hominis et mammalium tam naturalem quam abnormem (1849; Garrison-Morton.com 1822), containing some of the most accurate and beautiful images of human and animal abnormalities ever published. He added significantly to the collection of anatomical and pathological specimens begun by his father, Gerardus Vrolik (1775-1859); this collection forms the basis of the University of Amsterdam’s Museum Vrolik, which contains one of the world’s largest collections of human deformities.
Vrolik’s correspondent, Ferdinand Faesebeck, was a dissector at the Anatomisch-Chirurgische Institut in Braunschweig. In 1842 he published a paper in Müller’s Archiv titled “Ueber Doppelbildung,” in which he described his dissection of a fetus born with a parasitic conjoined twin (heteradelphus) and appealed to his readers for further literature on the subject. Vrolik responded to Faesebeck’s request in the present letter (translation ours):
"I read with great interest the description you gave in [Muller’s Archiv] of a heteradelphus, which you dissected with the utmost care. Towards the end of this memoir you invite your readers to complete for you the literature on this deformity. I hasten all the more to meet your wishes, as I feel able to do so with one of my works. In the year 1840 I published a monograph on double monstrosities, forming Volume IX of the N. Verhandelingen der erste Klasse van het Koninklijk-Nederl. Instituut van Wetenschappen, Letterkunde en Schoone Kunsten. These memoirs can be found in several libraries in Germany, for example in Bonn, Gottingen, Berlin; and elsewhere Volume IX is sold separately under the title of W. Vrolik Over dubbele Misgeboorten. If you would like, I could give orders to ship it to you towards the beginning of November, when the 2d volume of my pathological anatomy manual will be shipped to Leipzig. In that case I would ask you to reply by return mail . . . I flatter myself, that my monograph will give you a passably complete summary of all that has been published in relation to double and heteradelphus monstrosities . . ."
Book Id: 45097Price: $750.00