William Cheselden - The Anatomy of the Bones

William Cheselden was born on October 19, 1688 at Somerby, near Burrow-on-the-Hill, Leicestershire. He most likely apprenticed as a surgeon in Leicester in his early youth, but by 1703 he was a pupil of the noted anatomist William Cowper in London, and about the same time was apprenticed as a surgeon at St. Thomas's Hospital. By 1711, he was lecturing in anatomy privately and later at St. Thomas's Hospital, where he became a surgeon in 1718. As a surgeon, he was particularly noted for his operation for the stone, for which he invented a new method. His noted work, Anatomy of the humane body, was first published in 1713 and became an important textbook, going through 16 English and American editions up to 1806. He died on April 10, 1752 in Bath and is buried on the grounds of the Chelsea Hospital. In 1733, William Chesleden published Osteographia, a grand folio edition depicting human and animal bones, featuring beautiful copperplate images, including playful skeletons, vignettes, and