The publication of Vesalius’ Fabrica in 1543 represented an extraordinarily detailed disclosure of each anatomical layer of the human body (skeleton, muscles, blood vessels, nerves, and viscera), based on the direct observation of dissections performed by the author himself, as clearly publicized in the famous full-page illustrated title page.
A letter written by Vesalius to the Basel printer Johannes Oporinus (1507–1568), which was included along with the woodblocks the author had sent from Venice, forms part of the preliminary material of the Fabrica. In this letter, Vesalius provides detailed instructions about the location of the woodblock illustrations and their relevant text, and about indexing the illustrations with Greek and Latin letters so that the anatomical images could be connected to their respective textual explanations. Vesalius’ active involvement in the production of this text continued in Basel, where he proofread each of the 711 printed pages that would constitute the first edition of this anatomical treatise.
