Galen, Opera Omnia, Basel: A. Cratander and J. Bebel, 1538, vol. 5, [729], woodcut, skeleton height 18 cm, Bury.10.7.

The complete Greek works of Galen were first published in 1525 by the Aldine press in Venice. This publication led to new Latin translations of individual works of Galen. It is from the newly available works of Galen such as the On the use of the parts and On anatomical instruction that the importance of bones as the fundamental structure of the human body was recognized. This Basel edition contained the Latin translation by Ferdinando Balamio (first published in Rome in 1535) of Galen’s On the bones, the only work in this publication to have woodcuts – one of the underside of the skull and another of the anterior and posterior views of the skeleton, shown here. It is a rather small woodcut, without any labels or keys. On the bones is the work Vesalius drew on extensively in the first book of his Fabrica.

This copy was once owned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), who was given the set of five volumes by the reformer, Martin Bucer (1491-1551).