| Custodial History | "Anatomy of the Human Body" (London: Faber, 1959) was a landmark medical text, providing medical students with clear narrative and accompanying illustrations in a single volume for the first time. It was quickly adopted as a standard teaching text and republished many times (second edition, 1966) in four languages.
Planning for the publication dates back to October 1943, when Robert Lockhart, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Aberdeen, entered into an agreement with Faber and Faber Limited to produce and publish a work provisionally entitled 'Textbook of Anatomy for Massage Students' [see MS 3750/1/6]. Over a period of time, this fairly modest production evolved into a much more substantial piece of work than originally envisaged. Lockhart's junior colleagues, Gilbert Hamilton and Forest Fyfe collaborated with him in the production of the textbook throughout the period 1943 - 1957. However, in 1958 a serious dispute arose between Lockhart's co-authors and the publishers over the title, authorship and copyright of the textbook. It was the publishers intention to market the textbook with Lockhart as the sole author, feeding off the success of his earlier earlier work, 'Living Anatomy: a photographic atlas of muscles in action and surface contours' (London: Faber, 1948). Hamilton and Fyfe were aggrieved at this suggestion as they had both undertaken work on significant portions of the work and wished to receive recognition and acknowledgement for their considerable contributions.
It appears that the authors and publishers finally agreed on joint authorship and copyright between March and April 1959 [see MS 3750/1/7]. Following much negotiation, the disagreement was resolved and Lockhart, Hamilton and Fyfe were able to resume amicable working relationships before the second edition was published in 1966. Fyfe left the department in 1956 to take up the post of Professor of Anatomy in Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada, remaining here until his retirement in 1978. Hamilton remained in the Anatomy Department in the University of Aberdeen until his early death in 1974.
The book was illustrated by Alberto Morrocco (1917 - 1998), who had studied at Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen, 1932 - 1938. After army service, 1940-1946, Morrocco resumed his painting and worked as an illustrator, until he was appointed Head of Painting at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee.
Robert Lockhart (1894 - 1987):
Robert Douglas Lockhart succeeded Alexander Low (1868 - 1950) as Regius Professor of Anatomy at the University of Aberdeen from 1938 - 1965. An outstanding teacher of Anatomy, he was also author and co-author of the standard and much reprinted teaching texts, 'Living Anatomy: a photographic atlas of muscles in action and surface contours' (London: Faber, 1948) and 'Anatomy of the Human Body' (London: Faber, 1959). He was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, 1959-62, and long-standing member and president of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland and Aberdeen Medico-Chirurgical Society (president, 1951).
Forest Fyfe (1913 - 2000):
Forest Fyfe graduated from the University of Aberdeen MA 1933 and M.B., Ch.B. 1937. He worked as a house surgeon in London and Lancashire before joining the University's Anatomy department in 1939, initially as an assistant and subsequently as a lecturer, 1941 - 1955. In 1956 he left Aberdeen to take up the post of Professor of Anatomy at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, where he remained until his retirement in 1978.
He worked on 'Anatomy of the Human Body' with Robert Lockhart and Gilbert Hamilton during his time as lecturer in anatomy at Aberdeen, and contributed to subsequent editions and imprints from his new home in Canada. He served on the [Canadian] Dental Research Committee of the National Research Council and the Medical Research Council and was an early worker in the use of electron microscopy in the medical field. His personal interests included photography, music and classics. He married Elizabeth Stewart BSc Aberdeen (1940) in 1943 and had three sons and two daughters: one of his sons, Forest M. Fyfe ['Mac'] is based in the Physics department of Dalhousie University. |
| Description | Planning and time-tabling material, typescripts, illustrations and proof copies for the 1959 imprint of 'Anatomy of the Human Body', 1949 - 1959; proof copies of the 1965 imprint; photocopies of the index of the 1969 imprint (two sets), with related papers; colour proof copy of the 1972 imprint; reviews of the first (1959) and second (1965) editions, 1959 - 1969; general correspondence between co-authors, publishers and other interested parties, 1945, 1960 - 1973; correspondence regarding Gilbert Hamilton's dispute with the publishers, 1945 - 1960; correspondence between Robert Lockhart and Peter du Sautoy regarding the production and correction of the textbook, 1950 - 1965; correspondence between Robert Lockhart and Forest W. Fyfe regarding the textbook and other general matters, 1939 - 1964. |