For Public Consumption
Interacting with Illustrations
Cheselden's surgical accounts, which appear at the end of the book, make use of illustrations that resemble fugitive diagrams. Fugitive diagrams have flaps that can be lifted up to reveal another layer of the diagram, allowing for interaction between the text and the reader. (Carlino 1995, 53) The above diagram is similar in that there could be a flap over the woman's stomach. She was one of Cheselden's patients, named Margaret White. For example, only her stomach is depicted from the anatomical perspective. This lack of anatomical detail transforms the book into a work that could have appealed to a non-medical student audience, as the figure and text read like a story.
The American Publishing Industry
The Tisch copy of Anatomical Tables of the Human Body was printed nearly 100 years after the first British edition. Moreover, it was printed in a different country. In the context of post-war America, booksellers could only afford to print the most popular works. (Green 2010, 75) That this book was printed suggests popularity among a general public interested in science. Its smaller size reinforces the idea that this was used in America as an interest or leisure book, carried around or stored in a personal library. The size, however, may have also been a factor of cost; these illustrations would have been expensive given that they required metal plates.
Self-Reflection & Mortality
Cheselden's book also references themes such as mortality. The illustrations of skeletal figures are personified with faces and distinct poses. This technique was employed throughout the Renaissance and was intended to cause the viewer to mediate on the transcience of life. (Carlino 1995, 53) This self-reflection instigated by several of the diagrams further extend the purpose of Anatomical Tables of the Human Body to a non-scientific use. Thus, the audience is also expanded to non-medical students.