An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

LIZARS, John

3 entries
  • 13508

A system of anatomical plates of the human body. By John Lizars. Text in 8vo in 12 pts., plus folio atlas with engraved title and 101 plates engraved by William Home Lizars.

Edinburgh: Printed for Daniel Lizars, 18221826.

Lizars's System of anatomical plates was by far his most successful work, going through many editions. The text of the work was originally issued in 12 parts in octavo format, which were then bound together in book form with engraved title; in later editions the text was reset in folio and bound with the plates. There are two issues of parts 2 and 3 of the text in the first edition, the earliest with imprint reading "Printed for Daniel Lizars, 61, Princes Street, Edinburgh; and S. Highley, 174, Fleet Street, London." The later issues' imprint has "Hodges and M'Arthur, Dublin" added at the end; the pagination of the two issues of these parts also varies.

The first edition of the folio atlas illustrating Lizars's System was issued in both uncolored and hand-colored versions, although the 15 plates devoted to the brain and spinal cord are colored in all copies of the first edition. Only a few copies of the first edition of the work were issued with all the plates fully colored.

William Home Lizars's fame as engraver led John James Audubon to engage Lizars to engrave the plates for the double elephant folio Birds of America; however, after Lizars had engraved the first ten plates, he recommended to Audubon that this enormous project (requiring over 76,000 elephant folio hand-colored plates for the 175 copies in the edition) be turned over to Robert Havell in London. 



Subjects: ANATOMY › 19th Century, ANATOMY › Anatomical Illustration
  • 6026

Observations on extraction of diseased ovaria.

Edinburgh: D. Lizars, 1825.

Lizars performed the first (unsuccessful) ovariotomy in Britain. His book made generally known the practical possibility of this operation.



Subjects: OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY › GYNECOLOGY › Oophorectomy
  • 13504

Practical observations on the use and abuse of tobacco. Greatly enlarged from the original communication on the effects of tobacco smoking, which appeared in Medical Times and Gazette, August 5, 1854.

Edinburgh: W. H. Lizars, 1854.

Lizars was one of the first to recognize the addictive nature of tobacco and its potential damage to health. Digital facsimile of the 6th edition (1857) from wellcomecollection.org at this link.



Subjects: PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS › Botanic Sources of Single Component Drugs › Tobacco, TOXICOLOGY › Drug Addiction › Tobacco