Anal Surgery with Bistoury and Cannula, Diderot Chirurgie Plate XIII, circa 1772

An original antique copper engraving, uncolored, from the Chirurgie plates of the Encyclopédie. Fig. 3 fills most of the plate: a patient lies draped over the edge of a table with the buttocks raised, two hands from above, one in a gathered cuff, holding back the drapery and the skin of the region, a fine straight probe set into the skin in the cleft above the anus, and the surgeon's hand entering from below with the index finger placed at the anus. Fig. 1, at the right, is a tall bistoury with a long, narrow blade curving at the tip, a dark riveted handle and a scrolled butt. Fig. 2, at the top, is a ribbed tube with an oval eye at one end and a plate pierced with three round holes at the other.

The plate number is lettered "Pl. XIII." at the top right, the section "Chirurgie." is lettered below the border, and the page number "74." stands at the lower left. No engraver's mark is lettered at the lower right. The figures are numbered Fig. 1 to Fig. 3.

The Encyclopédie edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert was accompanied by volumes of engraved plates, the Recueil de planches. This plate belongs to the Chirurgie section of the Livorno edition published by Giuseppe Aubert, whose plate volumes appeared between 1771 and 1778. The Chirurgie plates set out surgical instruments, bandages and apparatus and show operations, with the figures numbered and keyed to an explanation printed in the text volume.

The plate mark is visible around the image. The clinical subject suits a medical office, a surgeon's study or a collection of the history of medicine.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.