I purchased this one on Ebay, based on a few images that made me think it might be quite a thing, and indeed it is! With nearly 100 oversized pages packed with ink-drawn illustrations and dense hand-written text, it was the work of a "HPB" ( monogrammed at bottom right on every page), a student of art at academy I believe, and covers a wide scope of human anatomy and physiognomy, etc. Clearly he (I presume) was referencing (probably carefully copying) one or a series of books as he did these profusely labeled drawings of skeletons and musculature and facial expressions, etc. but everything is done by hand, in black ink. I love it for the many of the diagrams themselves, and also for the ongoing interplay between science and art history, with faces and bodies from classical sculpture and winged angels swooping in amid "objective" anatomical diagrams.All sorts of curiousness, and certainly a great one for drawing instructor to share with students now!
Overall 15 1/4" x 12". Paper 15 x 11 3/4". The bulk of the pages are detached for the cover boards. Most remain bound in one large section, with a few loose pages and a small section of pages still attached to the back cover. There is a blank page between every page that was filled. Paper is strong and smooth, woven, with a sheen. Darkness of the black ink varies somewhat--always quite readable, but a bit lighter on some pages. No tears, foxing, etc. aside from some tape mends to the first inside page (after marbled endpaper) which is a different sort of paper.
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