At the Anatomy Museum shop, you can explore and purchase the book Tales from the Anatomy Theatre: A Fascinating Journey Through the History of Anatomical Preparations by anatomy historian Oskar Baldomero. Filled with charming and humorous anecdotes from the history of dissection, this book also delves into how anatomical preparations were created for teaching or even personal use. For example, it includes the tale of an 18th-century English surgeon and dentist who mummified his wife and kept her in his living room! This is the second, expanded edition of the book.

Another story from the book:

GREAT WINDMILL STREET SCHOOL OF ANATOMY

William Hunter's purpose-built Great Windmill Street School of Anatomy was the scene of macabre prank. Towards the end of the dissecting season in the spring of 1810, a medical student working late and bored with the dreary task of picking fat from a greasy limb, was suddenly struck by what he believed was a thoroughly amusing idea. In a moment of devilish inspiration, he grabbed the severed leg that he had been working on, took it up to the roof and posted it down the chimney of the neighbouring house. The limb, propelled by gravity, dislodged a good deal of soot before reappearing in the fireplace at considerable speed, where it splashed into a cooking pot alongside the other ingredients of a stew. Needless to say, the addition of this unwelcome ingredient completely spoiled the stew and the woman's screams of displeasure soon drew a large crowd. The student was saved from an impromptu beating by the arrival of his friends who dispersed the crowd by the prompt distribution of shillings and half-crowns.

Text: Oscar S. Baldomero
Photography: Basile Bornand
Design: Alexey Murashko
Translation from English: Māra Poļakova
Editor and Proofreader: Ieva Zarāne

Thomas Hood's poem translated by Dens Dimiņš and edited by Kārlis Vērdiņš.
Printed and bound at Jelgava Printing House in 2024.

Publisher: Alexander L. Bieri