After 1543

Vesalius was not satisfied with his first edition. Not only did he plan quickly for a revised edition, eventually appearing in 1555, but he made substantial numbers of corrections towards a third edition that was never published. Vesalius defended his work against critics, and it was quickly recognised as a masterpiece. But by the eighteenth century it was used for its images, not for its by now outdated anatomy. Historically minded medics at the end of the nineteenth century saw it as the (increasingly expensive) icon it has now become.