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By Adam Gibson
Andreas Vesalius was a 16th century anatomist who wrote an influential anatomical textbook called (On the fabric of the human body). , but it is still remarkable for its extraordinary illustrations. Moreover, he provided some pages that were intended to be cut up and assembled into (Figure 1).
Figure 1: De humani corporis fabrica, showing the pop-ups.
We were asked to examine the pop-ups to see whether we could get evidence for how or when they were made. We liaised with Dr Sandy Mosse and Dr Dzoshkun Shakir of who brought a foetal laparoscope that was used for education and outreach. This is a rigid endoscope with a diameter of about 3 mm which we could use to look underneath the pop-up flaps (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Imaging under the flaps with a foetal laparoscope
Movies were taken with the laparoscope, that appear to show that the pop-ups were supported with parchment rather than paper, and that writing on the parchment was in Latin in a Gothic script. That suggests that the pop-ups were assembled when such manuscripts were commonplace soon after the book had been purchased.