Forceps and Bladed Instruments, Diderot Chirurgie Plate XXIII, circa 1772

This is an original antique copper engraving, uncolored, with sixteen numbered figures of instruments. Fig. 1 is a large forceps with one long curved jaw facing two short ones. Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are straight and curved blades in tubular handles with finger rings. Fig. 4 is a disc on a screwed stem, Fig. 5 a pierced cube, Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 forked instruments. Fig. 8 is a long forceps with ring handles and eyed tips, Fig. 9 a rod with a crescent clamp and a trefoil foot, Fig. 10 a cylinder ending in a ring, Fig. 11 a fine probe, and Fig. 12 a needle in a faceted handle beside an unnumbered faceted rod. Fig. 13 is a box with a slotted grid lid, Fig. 14 a stoppered jar, Fig. 15 a ruled disc, and Fig. 16 a crescent cup on a turned stand.

The plate number "Pl. XXIII" is lettered at the top right outside the border, the section title "Chirurgie." below the border, and the page number "86." at the lower left. It is signed at the lower right with the conjoined AB monogram followed by "s.", the mark the Venetian engraver Antonio Baratti used on the Livorno plates (his full signature, "Antonio Baratti s.", is lettered on Pl. XII of this section).

The plate belongs to the Chirurgie section of the Recueil de planches, the plate volumes of the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert, in the Livorno edition published by Giuseppe Aubert between 1771 and 1778. Its figures are numbered and keyed to an explanation printed in the text volume.

Framed with a generous mat, the plate suits a study, a library or a medical practice.

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