About

This is the website of the Vesalius Census project, which aims to publish a comprehensive descriptive census of Andreas Vesalius’ monumental De humani corporis fabrica, the first major illustrated atlas of anatomy. We are trying to find every single surviving copy of the 1543 and 1555 Basel editions, the two editions Vesalius himself supervised. Members of the team include Daniel Margocsy, Mark Somos and Stephen Joffe.

We have already found a surprisingly large number of copies of the Fabrica. The previous scholarship has estimated a print run as low as 250 copies for the Fabrica. Our database currently has almost 300 copies of the 1543 edition in public libraries, museums, and private collections, and over 350 copies of the 1555 edition. Copies of the Fabrica are available all across the world, from Buenos Aires to Tokyo, from Vancouver to Melbourne.

The census helps us recreate the reception history of Vesalius across the ages. 90% of the copies contain provenance information in the form of possessor’s notes, allowing us to trace the books’ movements across centuries and continents. It is equally easy to determine why these readers were interested in the Fabrica. 63% of the copies contain handwritten annotations, allowing us to nuance our understanding of how physicians, priests, artists and sovereigns have read this atlas for the past five hundred years.

This website will provide regular updates on our progress and on our publications. If you or your collection owns a copy of the Fabrica please let us know at margocsy@gmail.com or fill out our survey about it.