The Mutter Museum Of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia

The Mütter Museum, a large collection of specimens and models of the human body, both normal and abnormal, was founded in 1856 when pioneer surgeon Thomas Dent Mütter gave his collection to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia for the future education of medical students. Many other collections have since been added to it. The collection, including skulls and skeletons, preserved specimens, elaborate wax models, and vintage photographs, is open to the public as well as to medical students. As this volume clearly shows, a number of photographic artists have been inspired by the museum’s strange contents.The book consists almost entirely of full-page photographs of individual specimens by a number of artists, including, in some cases, photographs of the same specimen by different people. About two-thirds of the photos are black-and-white, with the rest color; most are modern, though some vintage photos of living patients with various medical conditions also appear. Each photo is identified by title, artist, and year of composition, plus a sentence or two describing what is known of the patient or specimen and the medical condition being shown. A short text section at the beginning describes the history of the museum, and an appendix at the end provides more details on some of its sub-collections, such as the Hyrtle skull collection, and some of the more famous or bizarre patients portrayed, such as Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins (conjoined twins is the proper name for such twins, who share parts of the same body).The book is not laid out systematically, as a doctor or medical student might view the collection, and the photos themselves, although many are clear, often have more of an artistic than a scientific focus. They lend themselves to meditations on the meaning of such terms as human and normal. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested on the development and variations of the human body from either a scientific or an artistic/philosophical point of view.

This version of the book isn't as good, compared to the later-published one. More (small) print & far fewer photos. Still interesting if you're a student of anatomy.

Content of the book is five stars, however the book was listed in "very good" conditin and it was not. Interior pages pulled away from the binding. Some rought exterior spots.

This is the motto of the Mutter Museum and is also an apt description of this book. The Mutter is a museum of medical oddities. I visited last year and consider it the best place I have been to in all my travels. Not for the squeamish! Displays of abnormalities in the human body are not for the faint of heart. Most of the exhibits are the actual remains of the afflicted persons. This book does a good job portraying some, but not all. The photos are amazing but the text sometimes gets bogged down with technical writing. I understand that this is necessary to the subject matter. Still, this book is worth reading whether you visit the museum or not. I was disappointed that my favorite exhibit--the giant colon--wasn't included. It is a coffee-table type book but I don't recommend that you place it on your coffee table for your guests reading pleasure.

If you don't have the calendars, this is an excellent way to get some of the delightfully artistic photographs of the creepy exhibits at the Mütter Museum. My primary complaint is that the text is often a bit short on detail, but it could very well be that not that much is known about some of the specimens. Also, the lack of photographs of some of the most interesting exhibits - such as the Soap Lady and the Giant Colon - is annoying, especially since they don't let you take pictures yourself at the museum. But there are more than enough fascinating photographs to make this a worthwhile addition to morbid coffee tables everywhere!

I purchased this as well as the other Mütter Museum book and I don't regret it at all. The images are really quite beautiful and the essays are engaging. There are better books for more in depth analysis of specific items from medical collections, but this book definitely has the most compelling imagery.

I bought this as a gift for my son who has coveted this book for years. It is not exactly my cup of tea, but he ADORES it and that's all that matters.

I think the photographs in this were nice,from a photography stand point.I was hoping for more plain photographs of the items that you could reallydissect and look at and placed more in a museum stance instead of at strange"artsy" angles with other odd "artsy" attachments. You also get very littleinformation about the articles in the photographs other then the tiny caption.The book itself is filled with great information but without much elaboration onthe photos themselves it lacks a bit.

This is a very intriguing book - and one you'd keep away from anyone under 16. But you would leave it out just to unnerve any visiting parent.

Pienso que es un buen libro, pero las imágenes no son algo que no puedas encontrar en pinterest u otras publicaciones sobre el tema, algo que me puso un poco triste es que esperaba más fotografías inéditas, close ups y no fue así, de 190 páginas, la mitad son en blanco con un pequeño texto abajo con la descripción de la imagen.

Very disappointing!! The museum has so many wonderful exhibits and there are very few captured in the book. Same exhibits captured in triplicate for fill or exhibits blurred as artist impression.

その方面では有名な医学博物館の写真集です。博物館全体に関する説明が19ページほどで、あとは標本の写真とその説明です。それほど詳しい説明がしてあるわけではなく、写真も、学術的というのではなく芸術的な写真です。当然ながら全てグロテスクな部類に属する写真ばかりです。ちょっと変わった芸術を楽しみたい方におすすめします。