Median Sagittal Sections of the Head, Antique Hirschfeld Anatomy Print, 1866

This antique anatomy print of median sagittal sections of the head is an original 1866 hand colored lithograph from Hirschfeld and Leveille's Nevrologie atlas, published in Paris by G. Masson. It is plate 4 in the atlas. The plate shows two midline sections of the head. The first keeps the face in profile and shows the falx, the corpus callosum and the fan of cerebellar white matter; the second is the same cut with the brain lifted away, showing the falx and tentorium, the nasal cavity and turbinates, and the wall of the pharynx.

The plate comes from the atlas to Ludovic Hirschfeld's Nevrologie et Esthesiologie, the second edition of his treatise and iconography of the human nervous system and the organs of sense, published in Paris by G. Masson in 1866. Every figure was drawn from life by J. B. Leveille directly from Hirschfeld's own dissections, printed as a lithograph by Lemercier of the rue de Seine, and colored by hand. Leveille's plates are among the most admired anatomical illustrations of the nineteenth century, exact enough to teach from and drawn with a restraint that keeps them beautiful rather than merely clinical.

As an antique anatomy print it rewards close looking, and it sits naturally in a collection of nineteenth century scientific illustration. A Hirschfeld lithograph of this kind would be well placed in a study, library or professional office, singly or as part of a series from the atlas.

This plate is in good condition for its age, with light age toning, minor foxing and small marks, mainly in the margins. The sheet also shows slight edge wear and a faint crease at the lower left. The toning is consistent with age, and the images show further condition details.

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