# Is "Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus" by William Harvey a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus by William Harvey (Sumptibus Guilielmi Fitzeri, 1628) is identified by: Quarto, Frankfurt 1628, printed at the expense of the English-born Frankfurt publisher William Fitzer; the imprint reads Francofurti, sumptibus Guilielmi Fitzeri, 1628. Frankfurt 1628 is the true first: an English author's landmark book first printed abroad, Fitzer being chosen through Harvey's connection to Robert Fludd, whose works Fitzer published.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Quarto, Frankfurt 1628, printed at the expense of the English-born Frankfurt publisher William Fitzer; the imprint reads Francofurti, sumptibus Guilielmi Fitzeri, 1628
- The book is famously badly made and that is itself an identification aid: it was printed on thin, poor-quality paper (now browned in virtually every copy) in indifferent type by one of the licensed Frankfurt printers, and it is riddled with typographic errors
- Collation is 72 pp. plus one leaf, with two engraved plates illustrating the ligature experiments on the arm — the plates are the first thing to check, since they are frequently missing
- Because Harvey was in London and could not correct proofs, an errata leaf listing 126 corrections was issued; very few copies contain it, and it is argued that it was added only after much of the edition had been sold, so its absence does not condemn a copy while its presence is notable
- The edition was small and only about 68 copies are recorded as surviving, nearly all institutional
- References: Grolier Medicine 27
- Publisher imprint reads Sumptibus Guilielmi Fitzeri

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | William Harvey |
| Publisher | Sumptibus Guilielmi Fitzeri |
| Year | 1628 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Quarto, Frankfurt 1628, printed at the expense of the English-born Frankfurt publisher William Fitzer; the imprint reads Francofurti… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Quarto, Frankfurt 1628, printed at the expense of the English-born Frankfurt publisher William Fitzer; the imprint reads Francofurti, sumptibus Guilielmi Fitzeri, 1628. The book is famously badly made and that is itself an identification aid: it was printed on thin, poor-quality paper (now browned in virtually every copy) in indifferent type by one of the licensed Frankfurt printers, and it is riddled with typographic errors. Collation is 72 pp. plus one leaf, with two engraved plates illustrating the ligature experiments on the arm — the plates are the first thing to check, since they are frequently missing. Because Harvey was in London and could not correct proofs, an errata leaf listing 126 corrections was issued; very few copies contain it, and it is argued that it was added only after much of the edition had been sold, so its absence does not condemn a copy while its presence is notable. The edition was small and only about 68 copies are recorded as surviving, nearly all institutional. References: Grolier Medicine 27; Norman 1006; PMM 127; Keynes's Harvey bibliography. Identification only — no valuation.

## Is this the true first?
Frankfurt 1628 is the true first: an English author's landmark book first printed abroad, Fitzer being chosen through Harvey's connection to Robert Fludd, whose works Fitzer published. The second edition (Venice, 1635, issued with Emilio Parigiano's refutation) is fragmentary and lacks the plates, so it is not a substitute. The first edition in English is a separate collected book: The Anatomical Exercises of Dr. William Harvey... Concerning the Motion of the Heart and Blood (London: printed by Francis Leach for Richard Lowndes, 1653), with Zachariah Wood's preface — 1653 London is the English-language first and is collected alongside the 1628 Latin.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition exists in the ordinary sense, but two modern issues dominate donated copies and are routinely mistaken for the real thing: the Nonesuch Press limited edition, The Anatomical Exercises of Dr William Harvey... the first English text of 1653, newly edited by Geoffrey Keynes (1928, tercentenary), and later facsimiles/CD-ROM reproductions of the 1628. The 17th-century Leiden, Padua and Rotterdam reprints (e.g. Rotterdam: Arnold Leers, 1648, a small format with Jacobus de Back's Dissertatio) are also common and are later editions, not the first. A 1628 date, the Fitzer Frankfurt imprint, the poor paper and both engraved plates must all be present together.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus* by William Harvey a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/exercitatio-anatomica-de-motu-cordis-et-sanguinis-in-animali
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.