| New Acquisitions III | Damien Ihrig, MA, MLIS
Curator, John Martin Rare Book Room
 Continuing with our introductions of new acquisitions, this month, I present a book from the Dutch physician, Jan Bleuland (1756–1838), filled with beautiful anatomical and pathological illustrations.
Bleuland trained at Leiden University under the tutelage of the anatomist, Eduard Sandifort. There he honed his skills injecting anatomical specimens and working with the large anatomical collection of the university. After graduating with his doctor of medicine, he eventually made his way to Utrecht, where he taught anatomy, physiology, surgery, and obstetrics.
Over his career, Bleuland built his own collection to over 2,500 mostly human specimens. He used his collection for his teaching and research and to publish several works, including another book in our collection, Observationes anatomico-medicae de sana et morbosa oseophagi structura. Observationes deals with the anatomy of the esophagus in the infant and adult, its specific functions, and pathological conditions.
In 1826, Bleuland retired and the Dutch government bought his collection for the Utrecht University Museum. He quickly produced an inventory of the collection, Descriptio musei anatomici (1826), and began to create his greatest work, an illustrated catalog of the collection. We were fortunate enough to find a copy of this catalog and I am excited to present more on it below.
This purchase was made possible by the generosity and foresight of Dr. John Martin to support the JMRBR with an acquisitions endowment.
Stay well and happy reading!
Fall Hours
Good news, everyone - the Rare Book Room is now open for researchers, classes, and visitors! The Room is available Monday-Thursday, 8:30-5:00 (U.S. Central) and Friday by appointment. FACE MASKS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED. To guarantee the room is available, please contact me at damien-ihrig@uiowa.edu. | | 
October 6 at 4:00 PM (central) – The John Martin Rare Book Room Presents
“The Power of Necessity” with Kimberly Sprague, MSN, ARNP, CNM
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UI Carver College of Medicine
This will be a virtual presentation. Details to follow.
Celebrate National Midwifery Week with this casual look at the people driven to forward the practice of obstetrics by exploring the recorded studies of the Hardin library collection to discover the foundation we sit upon.
September 8 at 7:00 PM (central) – Iowa Bibliophiles
“The Why, How, What, and Result of Almost 65 Years of Rare Book Collecting” with Arthur Bonfield, JD, LLM
Allan D. Vestal Chair, UI School of Law
Zoom link
In this talk, Bonfield will look at his collecting journey over the last 65 years. He will discuss questions like how he chose and found books, what attracted him to particular books, the rationale for collecting what he collects, along with some details of the process of his collecting and the effects it has on him personally.
The talk will also explore how collecting one subject and one book led to another subject and another book, and how Bonfield has learned to navigate the rare book industry. Finally, the talk will reflect on the educational and intellectual growth Bonfield has experienced as a result of his 65 years of book collecting. | | | | BLEULAND, JAN (1756-1838) Otium academicum : continens descriptionem speciminum nonnullarum partium corporis humani et animalium subtilioris anatomiae ope in physiologicum usum praeparatarum, aliarumque, quibus morborum organicorum natura illustratur. [Academic leisure: containing a description of several specimens of the human body and of exact animal anatomy prepared for use in physiology, and containing a description of other items with which the nature of organic diseases is illustrated]. Printed in Utrecht by Johannes Altheer in 1828. 168 pages. 37 color illustrations and 35 black and white illustrations. 29 cm tall.
Otium academicum is Bleuland's catalog for his extensive anatomical collection that was purchased for the University of Utrecht in 1826. It includes descriptions for over 2,000 specimens and 72 beautifully printed illustrations. I do not normally do this, but I am going to quote directly from Domenico Bertolini Meli's 2017 book, Visualizing Disease. This is an exceptional book with a thorough investigation into Bleuland's process, both pathologically and illustratively. It also provides a good description of the differences between intaglio printing (e.g., engraving or etching lines onto a metal plate) and lithography (ink on a stone surface).
"Otium academicum consists of three parts dealing with anatomy and physiology, comparative anatomy, and pathological anatomy, respectively; they appeared in twelve installments between 1826 and 1828. The illustrations of the first two parts include thirty-six copper engravings printed in color and finished by hand; those of the third part consist of thirty-five black-and-white lithographs and one color engraving; the exceptional pathological plate in color will be discussed below.
The separation between physiological and pathological sections, with his distinction between color engravings versus black-and-white lithographs, is quite striking; all his plates, though, relied on preparations...While striking for the preparation and printing techniques, the overall impression of Bleuland's colored plates is affected by the artificial look of the images: although Bleuland often rejoiced at the beauty of his colored injections, his colors look like implausible renderings of what an anatomist may find in the morgue, though they were possibly true to his preparations.
The scope of his physiological and comparative sections, as in previous publications, was to | | | highlight the physiological significance of his structural findings; in this respect, by highlighting the fine vascular structure, or what he called the anatomia subtiliore, in the tunics and membranes of his preparations, his presentation was perfectly suitable...
Lithography was the preferred medium for pathology presumably for reasons of cost, because most preparations were not colored through injections, and because the versatility of lithography enabled the artist effectively to capture the key features, such as changes in structure and especially texture. A notable feature of Bleuland's work is that he often tells us how his preparations were made, which vessels he injected, which colors he used, how slowly he injected them, and at times which substance he used, such as mercury."(p. 90)
"...lithography: by drawing with an oily crayon on the [stone] slab, wetting it, and then applying a sponge dipped in ink, only the portions drawn by the crayon turned black, because the ink was repelled by the water but had an affinity to oily substances. In this way the stone could be used for printing by repeating the same process as many times as one wished.
Whereas in a woodcut the inked image was in relief and in an intaglio print it was recessed, in lithography it was on the surface or at the same level as the plate, hence the technical term of"planographic prints"; unlike intaglio prints, lithographs left virtually no mark of the stone on the paper....eventually lithography allowed for considerable subtleness in tone and effectiveness in representing textures. In addition, the process was simpler, cheaper, and more direct than producing intaglio prints, corrections were easier, and more copies could be printed without wear..." (p. 21)
The book is in great condition. The paper has very little staining and the images are stunning. It is bound with a leather spine covering and marbled paper reminiscent of the Schwann book I highlighted in June. It is an excellent example of a medical scientist maximizing the printing technology of the day to present their work and visual arguments as effectively, and beautifully, as possible.
If you are interested in seeing this or other items mentioned in this or earlier newsletters, please contact Damien Ihrig at damien-ihrig@uiowa.edu or 319-335-9154 to arrange a visit in person or over Zoom. | | | |
