Spinal Cord and Its Serial Sections, Hirschfeld Double Folding Plate, 1866

This antique anatomy print of the spinal cord and its serial sections is an original 1866 hand colored lithograph from Hirschfeld and Leveille's Nevrologie atlas, published in Paris by G. Masson. It is the double plate numbered 12 and 13 in the atlas. Printed on a folding sheet, this is among the most useful plates in the book for teaching. It shows three full length figures of the medulla oblongata and spinal cord removed from the body, one with the nerve roots left long, and beside them a column of twenty two transverse sections taken at successive levels from the medulla to the filum terminale.

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 age toning, scattered staining and a horizontal fold line. The sheet also shows small tears and creases along the top and right edges, with general edge wear. 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.