Thomas Geminus, Compendiosa totius Anatomiae delineatio aere exarata, London: T. Geminus, 1559, engraving inserted after Bvii verso, K.7.15.

Geminus’s Compendious delineation of the whole of anatomy engraved in copper, first published in 1545 at the request of Henry VIII, was the first work to include images copied from those of the Fabrica.

Thomas Geminus (Lambit), was born in Lexhe outside Liège, and learnt engraving and instrument-making in Louvain, possibly under Gerard Mercator. He was active in England from the 1540s and is best known for his anatomical engravings copied from Vesalius’s books. Editions of the Compendious delineation, printed in 1545, 1553, and 1559, were dedicated respectively to Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I, whose support Geminus enjoyed. The first edition, in Latin, was an extract of the text of the Epitome, while the second and third editions contained English texts compiled by a schoolmaster Nicolas Udall (1504-1556), included translations from the Latin as well as from Thomas Vicary’s (d. 1561) manual, based in its turn on earlier surgical writers such as Henri de Mondeville. Vicary was prominent in the the Company of Barber-Surgeons established in 1540 (amalgamating the Company of Barbers and the Fraternity of Surgeons), and Geminus’s book was intended for members of this newly established company that was also granted the right to dissect criminals. This 1559 edition was printed by Geminus himself, and he also records the help he received from Richard Eden (c. 1520-1576).

The engravings were very close – almost line by line – copies of the original Vesalian woodcuts, but Geminus omitted the landscapes.