Add MS 5259

This manuscript contains anatomical images and representations of pathological conditions affecting the human body. Some of the inscriptions on these drawings feature historic language. Where these inscriptions have been transcribed, they are enclosed in inverted commas.

Drawings and manuscript notes on human and animal anatomy executed by various draughtsmen and in a variety of techniques. The items are executed on paper and pasted onto the unnumbered folios of the manuscript. Summary description of contents:

1-11. Red chalk drawings of the anatomy of the paw and leg of a leopard, attributed to Jean Joubert (1643-1707), preceded by an inscription in French: 'le desseins suivans contenans l'anatomie de la pate du Leopard se trouvaient dans la Bibliotheque du Cardinal du Bois, recueille cy devant par Mr. l'abbe Bignon'. Each red chalk drawing is followed by its offset: a reverse of the drawing obtained by impressing it onto another sheet.

12. Black chalk drawing on blue paper of an excrescence removed from the scapula of a woman, as indicated by an inscription in English below the drawing.

13. The item was transferred to the Prints & Drawings Department of the British Museum in 1928. This is a coloured mezzotint, dating from 1719, made by Jakob Christoph Le Blon (1667-1741) and showing dissected human testicles (1928,0310.101).

14, 16, 17. Grey ink and wash drawings of the human brain and skull with inscriptions in English, preparatory for plates in Humphrey Ridley's (1653-1708) The anatomy of the brain (London, 1695), which were engraved by Michael van der Gucht (1660-1725).

18-19. Bartolomeo Passarotti (1529-1592), pen and brown ink studies of the male skeleton and nude executed on paper, pasted down on cardboard.

20-21. Battista Franco (1513-1561), pen and brown ink studies of the human skeleton in three positions, the second of which (21) is stamped with the monogram ‘PHL’ in the lower margin, on the left (the initials of the Flemish painter and collector Prosper Henry Lankrink (1628-1692)).

22-25. Ink and grey wash drawings of stones extracted from the human body, with inscriptions in English, one of which (item 25) is dated 1684.

28. A brief account, written in English, of the extraction of a stone from a female rabbit in 1681, signed by Andrew Arnold and dated London, 3rd April 1682. Pasted onto the paper with this description is a smaller piece of paper with an ink and wash drawing of the stone, inscribed in Latin with the date 24th November 1681 and signed ‘delineavit Eimartus’.

29. Watercolour of 'The true and perfect draught of a prodigious monster which came out of the body of Mr Rusten Sherman in Norwich'.

30. Black chalk drawing accompanied by the inscription ‘The figure of the hen’s egg sent from Sultzbach in Germany to Andr. Arnold’.

31. Red and black chalk drawing of the genitalia of an intersex person.

34. Black chalk drawing inscribed at the top in pen and ink as of ‘The kidny of a Seal’.

35. Pencil drawing inscribed in the middle in pen and ink ‘The modell of a Lyon’s Tooth brought out of Barbary [former designation of the coast of North Africa] by Mr. Jones’.

37. Black chalk drawing inscribed at the top in pen and ink ‘The heart of a Seal’.

39. Watercolour of a frog drawn on black prepared paper and inscribed on the verso by Thomas Browne as ‘a swelled bellied frogge’.

40, 42. Drawings of the anatomy of a 'peccari or Mexican hog', the first of which (40) is signed ‘CM delin.’ in the bottom right corner.

43. Watercolour of conjoined twins.

44. Watercolour of a stillborn infant inscribed in pen and ink along the lower margin ‘Baronissae cujusdam infans, hujus perfectionis, spatio quadrantis anni in utero immobilis, matrisque prorsus insensibilis, cura & labore mortuus exemptus, mater feliciter curata, Cibimii Transylvanorum 1705’.

46. Pencil and grey wash drawing of a flayed male figure standing in frontal view, related to an engraved plate in John Browne’s (1642-1702) Myotomia nova (London, 1684).

47. Ink and grey wash drawing of a flayed male figure standing in frontal view, inscribed in English in the upper right corner 'miserable drawing don by a Frenchman after the life'.

48-55. Drawings of the muscles of the body in red chalk, grey wash, pencil and watercolour related to plates in William Cowper’s (1666-1709) Myotomia reformata (London, 1724), which were etched by Michael van der Gucht. Item 50, a watercolour of a flayed figure in a landscape, is signed ‘WC’ in the lower left corner (likely the monogram of William Cowper).

56. Black and white chalk drawing of the dissection of the human neck.

57-60. Pen and ink and pencil drawings of the skeleton and muscles of the thorax of the human body.

61-75. Red chalk, ink and pencil drawings of the muscles of the body, related to plates in the second edition of William Cowper’s Myotomia reformata (London, 1724), which were etched by Michael van der Gucht. The only exception is item 71, which is an oblong etching in proof state from the same publication.

76. Pen and brown ink study of the muscles of the leg and arm, stamped with the monogram ‘PHL’ (the initials of the Flemish painter and collector Prosper Henry Lankrink) in the lower left margin.

77. Red chalk sketch of the muscles of the human limbs, preparatory for plates in the second edition of William Cowper’s Myotomia reformata (London, 1724).

78, 80. Ink and grey wash drawings of a dissected human heart seen from various angles, with accompanying inscriptions below the drawing, in English.

79. Grey wash drawing of a dissected human heart.86. Ink and grey wash drawing of the arterial system of the human body, possibly a copy after plate 3 from the appendix to William Cowper’s Anatomy of humane bodies (London, 1698).

88-89. Ink and grey wash drawings of the pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein, inscribed with their name in Latin.

90. Watercolour of the hand and wrist of a man with a skin condition, with two pencil sketches of the skin in detail.

91, 92, 94-96. Ink and wash drawings of the pulmonary artery and vein related or preparatory for plates in James Drake’s (1667-1707)Anthropographia Nova (London, 1707), which were etched by Michael van der Gucht. Item 94 is an exception, being an impression of an engraved plate from this publication, with hand-coloured details.

98. Ink and wash drawing inscribed in Latin at the top ‘Hi sunt a cerebro sensus Motusq. canales ut pars quaeq suum compleat officium’. This drawing is by the same hand as items 88-89.

99. Watercolour drawing of the brain and spinal cord.

100. Pen and ink and wash sketch of the abdominal arteries, with lettering that refers back to an accompanying manuscript table of contents with nomenclature in Latin.

101. Ink and red chalk drawing showing a sample of blood vessels in the lungs of a frog, seen under the microscope, as indicated by an accompanying inscription in English.

103. Pen and ink and wash sketch of the portal vein, with lettering that refers back to an accompanying manuscript table of contents with nomenclature in Latin. This drawing is by the same hand as item 100.

104-105. Ink and grey wash drawings of parts of the male reproductive organs and urinary system.

106. Watercolour drawing of a dissected reptile animal with manuscript notes and nomenclature in Latin.

107-118. Watercolour and ink and grey wash drawings of the male and female reproductive organs, related to plates engraved by Michael van der Gucht in William Cowper’s Glandularum quarundam (London, 1702) and James Drake’s Anthropologia nova, or, a new system of anatomy (London, 1707).

119. Pen and ink and wash drawing of an abnormal bladder described as ‘vesica monstrosa’, which was extracted from a cadaver dissected in London by Dr Isaac Casaubon in 1614, with a dedication written by Dr Joannes Brouart to the anatomy professor in Leiden Peter Pauw.

121. Ink and grey wash drawing of the thoracic duct preparatory for an engraving in the Appendix to William Cowper’s Anatomy of humane bodies (London, 1698).

122. Black chalk and brush in grey drawings of the tongue and muscles of the throat with manuscript notes and nomenclature in Latin. Drawings by the same hand with a similar focus on the muscles of the throat and the tongue are on f. 133 in Sloane MS 3408, which consists of notes and drawings by anatomist William Cowper.

127-28. Chalk drawings of anatomical preparations on blue paper.

129-131. Drawings of the brain on blue paper and white paper preparatory for a plate in Humphrey Ridley's The anatomy of the brain (London, 1695).

132. Pen and brown ink drawing of skeleton in profile view facing right, with position in reverse of that shown on plate III of Book I from Andreas Vesalius’ De humani corporis Fabrica libri Septem (Basel, 1543).133. Pencil and grey wash sketch of a human skeleton in frontal view.

134-137. Studies of the human skull and bones of the neck.138. Red and black chalk study of crossed femur bones.

139-147. Anatomical drawings preparatory for engraved plates in the Appendix to William Cowper’s Anatomy of humane bodies (London, 1698).

149-50. Watercolours of the salivary glands preparatory for engraved plates in the Appendix to William Cowper’s Anatomy of humane bodies (London, 1698).

151-156*. Watercolours and ink and grey wash drawings of the dissection of a male porpoise, some of which are annotated with inscriptions in English.

157*-161. Watercolours and notes on the dissection of a parrot and tortoises.163, 164 166, 169. Drawings of the dissection of a turtle with inscriptions in English.

172. Pen and brown ink drawing with inscriptions in English and Latin about an ossification from the fat tissue of a sheep, inscribed ‘Ossificationem hancce ex omento ovis desumptam apud Holbeach in Com. Lincolniensi, 1708: delineavit Willilemus Stukely, C. C. Coll. Camb.’ William Stukeley (1687-1765).

187. Watercolour of the spinal cord. Drawing by the same hand as item 99.

190-192. Drawings and manuscript notes in Latin on the dissection of a rat, dated 5 April 1689 on item 192 in the lower right corner.

197-199. Watercolours of the dissection of the human eye.

200. Pen and brown ink sketch of the parts of the human eye, with an inscription in English.

204. Ink and grey wash drawing copying a vanitas print engraved by Jan Saenredam (1565-1607) after a composition by Abraham Bloemaert (1566-1651). An impression of the corresponding engraving is in the British Museum (1860,0728.656).

205-209. William Cowper, Drawings on white and on blue paper preparatory for the plates in Edward Tyson's (1651-1708) Orang-Outan, sive, Homo silvestris (London, 1699), which were engraved by Michael van der Gucht.

210. Watercolour drawing of the thighbone, inscribed at the top ‘The Thigh bone of a Man, being in length 3 foot 2 Inches, & 4 Inches diameter in the smallest part’.

213. Ink and grey wash drawing of a dislocated thigh of a nine-year-old boy, accompanied by a description handwritten in English by the physician who examined the patient.

211, 214, 216, 218, 219, 221-226. William Cowper, Drawings on white and on blue paper preparatory for the plates in Edward Tyson's Orang-Outan, sive, Homo silvestris (London, 1699).

227. The item was transferred to the Prints & Drawings department of British Museum on 10.3.1928. This is a broadside with letterpress text and a hand-coloured woodcut of conjoined twins (1928,0310.102).

228. Drawing of the dissection of a human eye with manuscript notes in Latin.