aniel Garrison and Malcolm Hast worked on the translation of The Fabric of the Human Body for over 20 years. Together with the support from countless people and generous grants, they created a new masterpiece.
1992
Translation by Dan Garrison and Malcolm Hast of passages in the Fabrica describing the larynx and hyoid bone.
1993, January
“Andreas Vesalius on the Larynx and Hyoid Bone” published in Medical History 37.1, 3–36.
May 14, 1993
Paper on “The Language of Vesalius” delivered at first plenary session of the American Association for the History of Medicine in Louisville, KY. First offer to publish a complete English edition of the Fabrica declined as premature.
June 1, 1993
First application to the National Endowment for the Humanities for project support.
June 19, 1993
“Was Vesalius a Dwarf?” delivered to the Bone Dysplasia Society in Chicago.
October 1, 1993
First application to the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health for project support.
1994
First eleven chapters of Fabrica I drafted in English translation with annotations. Spring: Garrison’s first seminar at Northwestern University on Early European Medicine.
June 1, 1994
Grant application submitted to the National Endowment for the Humanities; funded for September 1995 to August 1998.
1995
“Andreas Vesalius on the Teeth” published in Clinical Anatomy 8.2 (March-April 1995).
September 30, 1995
Application for project support submitted to the National Institutes of Health.
1996
First 21 chapters of Fabrica I completed.
1997
Annotated translation of the Fabrica now totals 208,037 words.
1998
Book I of the Fabrica (on the bones) now completed in draft form. Digital scanning and correction of woodcut images begins. Awarded 3-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and one-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, running September 1998 to August 2001.
1999
Work on Fabrica Book II (on the muscles) begins. Paper delivered at the New York Academy of Medicine: “Recovering Vesalius’ Fabrica: Words and images” May 10, 1999.
2000
Fabrica Book II nearly complete; digital image scanning and correction work continues. “Vesalius on the Variability of the Human Skull” published in Clinical Anatomy 13:311–320 (2000).
2001
Grant from the National Institutes of Health renewed for three years. As of February of this year, the first 7 chapters of Fabrica II have been drafted, with 546,631 words of the work as a whole. The beta version of Northwestern University’s website containing Bk. I goes online: http:vesalius.northwestern.edu.
2002
The Fabrica translation now stands at 575,000 words of translation and notes.
2003
Scanning and correction of all Fabrica illustrations is now complete. Bk. III of the 1543 edition is complete, and 13 of the 17 chapters of Bk. 4. Translation, front matter, and annotation now total 663,883 words. Northwestern’s Fabrica website officially released this spring.
2004
Revisions of Fabrica III-V are now complete.
2005
Work has progressed well into Bk. 6, with 851,638 words written. The Northwestern Fabrica website receives more hits than any other at Northwestern, save only for government publications.
2006
Total drafted so far stands at 950,000 words. ARTstor, the non-profit repository of digitized world art, publishes the scanned and corrected Fabrica illustrations in October.
2007
The Fabrica draft is now complete.
2009
Final revisions. Project submitted to Karger for publication.
2010
Annotated translation of Vesalius’ Epistle on the China Root, written between the two editions of the Fabrica, begun this year.
2011
Prof. Garrison awarded a Mellon Emeritus Professorship. Inter alia, this three-year grant supports creation of a new font, Basel Antiqua by Christian Mengelt. This typeface, with scores of Greek and other special characters, is used for the main text of the Karger Fabrica. Publication of this work in two volumes endowed by a generous grant from the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health.
2011–2013
Editing, design, and typesetting by staff of Karger Publishers. Book released in fall 2013.