Conjoined Infants Study, Diderot Hermaphrodites Supplement Plate 2, circa 1778

An original antique copper engraving, uncolored, with four numbered anatomical figures. Fig. 5 shows two infants joined at the back, standing back to back and hung by a strap from a hook, with reference lines a, b and c drawn to the genitals of each. Figs. 6 and 7 are studies of the lower abdomen and thighs, the clothing drawn back, showing the external genitalia with keyed reference lines. Fig. 8 shows the same region seen from below with the thighs raised, and beside it a small separate detail of the genitalia lettered a to f. The figures are drawn in a clinical, descriptive manner, with careful cross hatching and stipple.

The plate number "Suppl. Pl. 2." is lettered at the top right, the section "Histoire Naturelle, Hermaphrodites." below the border, and the page number "142." at the lower left, its middle digit heavier than the others. No engraver's mark is lettered at the lower right.

The Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert was accompanied by volumes of engraved plates, the Recueil de planches. In the Livorno edition published by Giuseppe Aubert the main plate volumes appeared between 1771 and 1778, followed by a supplement volume of plates in 1778 to 1779. This plate comes from that supplement and belongs to its natural history plates on hermaphrodites, not to the Chirurgie section; its figures are keyed by letter to an explanation printed in the text volume.

A specialist sheet for a collection of medical history or the history of natural history.

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