The Middle Ear and the Ossicles, Antique Hirschfeld Anatomy Print, 1866

This antique Hirschfeld anatomy print of the middle ear and the ossicles is Plate 83 from Hirschfeld and Leveille's Nevrologie atlas, an original hand-colored lithograph published in Paris by G. Masson in 1866. Sections through the petrous temporal bone show the tympanic cavity, the Eustachian tube and the mastoid cells, and the temporal bone is also seen from within the skull. Separate enlarged views show the malleus, incus and stapes and the tympanic ring, with a section showing the ossicles and facial nerve in place.

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, and the sheet was printed by Lemercier of the rue de Seine. The technique is lithography, and the coloring is original hand color.

Leveille's plates are among the most admired anatomical illustrations of the nineteenth century. They are exact enough to teach from, yet drawn with a restraint that keeps them beautiful rather than merely clinical, and a Hirschfeld anatomy print of this kind will interest collectors of scientific illustration and the history of medicine. This hand-colored lithograph would suit an audiologist's rooms or an ear, nose and throat practice, as well as a study or a library, and it works well hung in a series with other plates on the ear from the same atlas.

Condition is good. The sheet shows light age toning, scattered foxing and marginal staining. There is creasing at the lower-left corner and slight wear along the right edge. The toning is ordinary for paper of this age. Please review the images for further condition details.

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