Anatomia Seu Interiora Rerum

Author: 
Leeuwenhoek, A. van
Publisher: 
Lugduni Batavorum (Leiden): Boutesteyn
Year: 
1687

Full title

Anatomia Seu interiora Rerum, Cum Animatarum tum Inanimatarum, Ope & beneficio [sic] exquisitissimorum Microscopiorum Detecta, variisque experimentis demonstrata [etc.]

Anatomy, or the interior of things, of animate as well as inanimate things, detected with the help of clever microscopes, demonstrated by various experiments

Note: some versions misspell Inanimatarum as Inanimarum and beneficio as nebeficio

Dobell #22 and #23: Letters 43, 42, 38 and Letters 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 36, 46, 47, 44, 45, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, in that order

This volume collects the Latin translations of the letters that were published in Dutch by Boutesteyn, Dobell # 5-9, that is, all the early letters except the six printed by Gaesbeeck in 1684, Dobell #1-4:

Letters Dobell number, Short Title First edition, printer
38, 42, 43
28, 29, 30, 31 and 34, 35, 36
46, 47
44, 45
48, 49, 50, 51, 52
5. Onsigtbare Verborgentheden
8. Levende Dierkens
7. Zaden van Boomen
6. Sout-figuren
9. Cinnaber naturalis
1685, Boutesteyn
1686, Boutesteyn
1685, Boutesteyn
1685, Boutesteyn
1686, Boutesteyn

This volume has two parts, each continuously paginated. The two parts have, unnumbered but in this order, Letters 43, 42, 38, and Letters 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 36, 46, 47, 44, 45, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52. Most of the figures are in the text; the rest were printed as separate plates.

As shown on the table below, in 1687 Boutesteyn printed four versions of this volume, two title pages, one each for the 78-page typesetting A and the 64-page typesetting B.

Similarities

In all four, the front matter is identical:

  • de Hooghe's Artemis frontispiece (right; click to enlarge), dated 1685
  • a 5-page dedication to Jacobo (left sidebar), King James II of England

All of the letters in all four versions have summaries except the first, Letter 43.

In the three of the four versions that include the second part, the typesetting is identical: Letters 28-31, 34-36, 46, 47, 44, 45, 48-52.

Differences

The differences come in the first part with Letters 43, 42, 38, the same three letters that Boutesteyn had printed two years earlier in Anatomia et Contemplatio, which was the first volume set with the 78-page typesetting A. On the table below, the first two pages of Letter 43 of January 5, 1685 to the Royal Society show the differences.

In all four versions, the figures are the same, from the same engraved plates figures: eleven in Letter 43, six in Letter 42, and five in Letter 38. As shown below with the first figure of Letter 43, they are placed differently in the two typesettings. Typesetting B had ? of the figures printed on separate sheets and tipped in, though not always where the text discussed them.

Notes

There are errors in one of the two title pages: inanimatarum misspelled inanimarum and beneficio misspelled nebeficio. Dobell, for unknown reasons, assumed that the correctly spelled version was a later printing and gave it a separate number: 23. This situation is discussed in detail on the Case study titled The adventures of Letters 38, 42, and 43.

In 78-page typesetting A, the first part, Letters 38, 42, and 43, has consistent running heads: Antonii de Leeuwenhoeck on recto and Anatomia & Contemplatio on the verso. It does not have the pages with his named spelled Leeuwenhoek, without the c. However, the second part of typesetting A and all of the 64-page typesetting B repeat the inconsistencies in the runnings heads that are detailed on the page about the 1696 Arcana naturae microscopiorum, editio altera.

correctly spelled title misspelled title

23. Anatomia Seu interiora Rerum, Cum Animatarum tum Inanimatarum, Ope & beneficio exquisitissimorum Microscopiorum Detecta

typesetting A - 78 pages

23. Anatomia Seu interiora Rerum, Cum Animatarum tum Inanimatarum, Ope & beneficio exquisitissimorum Microscopiorum Detecta

typesetting B - 58 pages

22. Anatomia Seu interiora Rerum, Cum Animatarum tum Inanimarum [sic], Ope & nebeficio [sic] exquisitissimorum Microscopiorum Detecta

typesetting A - 78 pages

22. Anatomia Seu interiora Rerum, Cum Animatarum tum Inanimarum [sic], Ope & nebeficio [sic] exquisitissimorum Microscopiorum Detecta

typesetting B - 58 pages

Letters 43, 42, 38

+ 28-31, 34-36, 46, 47, 44, 45, 48-52

Letters 43, 42, 38

Letters 43, 42, 38

+ 28-31, 34-36, 46, 47, 44, 45, 48-52

Letters 43, 42, 38

+ 53-60 (Continuatio)

+ 28-31, 34-36, 46, 47, 44, 45, 48-52

Pagination: vii

+ 3-35 + 37-59 + 61-78

+ 1-258

Pagination: vii

+ 1-28 + 29-48 + 49-64

mispagination of pp. 1-5: 3, 2, 3, 6, 7 (plate missing from scan)

mispagination after p. 56, so that the 64th page has number 58.

Pagination: vii

+ 3-35 + 37-59 + 61-78

+ 1-258

Pagination: vii

+ 1-28 + 29-48 + 49-64

+ vii (title, index) + 1-124

+ 1-258

mispagination of pp. 1-5: 3, 2, 3, 6, plate, 7

mispagination after p. 56, so that the 64th page has number 58.

first two pages of Letter 43 of January 5, 1685 to the Royal Society
   
 

All 22 figures (11 + 6 + 5) within the text. No separate plates.

Letter 43: 7 figs text; Figs. 1, 3, 5, and 6 on separate sheets

Letter 42: 4 figures in text on a single plate; 2 other figures on a single separate plate.

Letter 38: all in text; no plates

Above scan from Munich Digitization Center (MDZ) for the Bavarian State Library is missing the plates as well as pages 50 and 51 from Letter 38.

Same as #23 typesetting A.

Same as #23 typesetting B. Example above of the plate from page 2 placed after page 6 shows that the plates were not always placed near the text discussing them.