An anatomical dissection being carried out by Andreas Vesalius, attended by a large group of observers. Woodcut, 1543.

The Epitome (Basel 1543) by Andreas Vesalius is a succinct version of his great work, De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, published in the same year and by the same publisher, Oporinus. The title page to the De fabrica has been reused with a new title inserted in the cartouche suspended below Vesalius's coat of arms. The Epitome was printed on sheets of greater dimension than the De fabrica, and this has allowed space for the Address to the Readers to be printed below the woodcut illustration of a dissection carried out by Vesalius, around whom a crowd of onlookers closely gathers. In the Address, Vesalius offers a choice to the readers of starting either with the text of six chapters or with the figures.