CARSWELL, Robert (1793-1857) - photo 1
CARSWELL, Robert (1793-1857) - photo 2
CARSWELL, Robert (1793-1857) - photo 3
CARSWELL, Robert (1793-1857) - photo 4

CARSWELL, Robert (1793-1857)

Lot 197
10.12.2025 12:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1514516
Lot 197 | CARSWELL, Robert (1793-1857)
Estimate value
£ 5 000 – 7 000
CARSWELL, Robert (1793-1857)
Pathological Anatomy. Illustrations of the elementary forms of disease. London: for the author, and published by Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, 1838.
First edition in book form of ‘one of the finest pathological atlases ever produced’ (Eimas): from the library of the distinguished surgeon Arthur Edward Durham FRCS Eng (1833-1895). Carswell, professor of pathological anatomy and curator of the medical museum at the University of London (later UCL), was commissioned by the University to prepare a series of pathological drawings, which he did between 1828 and 1831, personally painting some 2,000 watercolours. From these were selected the illustrations for Pathological Anatomy: 'The beautiful hand-colored lithographed plates ... include good representations of post-mortem digestion of the stomach, cirrhosis of the liver, dry gangrene of the toes, endocarditis, and tuberculosis of the lungs and intestine' (Norman); these plates also include 'the first illustration (in colour) "of the brain in general paralysis of the insane"' (R. Hunter and I. MacAlpine, Three Hundred Years of Psychiatry, 1535-1860, London: Oxford University Press, 1963, p. 784).

The work was originally issued in 12 fascicules between January 1833 and January 1838, and it was then issued in book form, in an edition which probably did not exceed 300 copies. The work's importance was swiftly recognised, and it remained esteemed throughout the century, as J.F. Payne's opinion of 1886 demonstrates: 'These illustrations have, for artistic merit and for fidelity, never been surpassed, while the matter represents the highest point which the science of morbid anatomy had reached before the introduction of the microscope' (DNB). Eimas Heirs 1501; Garrison-Morton 2291; Lilly p. 189; Norman 408; Wellcome II, p. 306.

Folio (368 x 259mm). 48 hand-coloured lithographic plates by and after Carswell, printed by A. Ducôte and Day & Haghe (some light browning and occasional spotting, a few plates strengthened on the verso along fore-edge). 20th-century green morocco-backed green cloth boards, marbled edges (joints starting and rubbed, slight wear to spine ends). Provenance: Arthur Edward Durham FRCS Eng (1833-1895, a member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons, and a Vice-President of the College; he was President of the Medical Society in 1885, then Treasurer until his death; Vice-President of the Royal Medical and Chirargical Society; President of the Metropolitan Counties Branch of the British Medical Association in 1886; invented the tracheotomy tube, named after him, and of many other surgical instruments; he was elected a member of Photographic Society 1877; signature on verso of title dated 1871 and ink inscription on verso of preliminary blank 'This book was given to me by my old and valued friend H.D. Jones, who died 1 Jan. 1872. AED', probably Henry Derviche Jones FRCS (d. 1872)) — Royal Society of Medicine (library ink stamp on title and gilt stamp at foot of spine).
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