No I. (-III) Of A Comparative Anatomical Exposition Of The Structure Of The Human Body, With That Of A Tiger And Common Fowl; In Thirty Tables, Two Copper-Plates To Each Table, 20 Inches By 15; Forming Six Numbers - Ten Plates To Each Number. The Whole Executed By George Stubbs, Author Of "The Anatomy Of The Horse." Conditions ... [6 lines]

No.I: p. 1-44, pl. I-V [i.e. 10 pl.]. There are bis pl. I-V. - No.II: p. 45-148, pl. VI-X [i.e. 10 pl.]. There are bis pl. VI-X. The bis pl. VII is misnumbered VIII; the bis pl. VIII is misnumbered VII. - No. III: p. 149-289, pl. XI-XV [i.e. 10 pl.]. There are bis pl. XI-XV. - For all three Numbers the letter-press and the plates were issued separately only (and copies of the letter-press are rarely found).

Although Stubbs originally conceived of his Comparative anatomical exposition as early as 1765 he did not begin serious work on it until 1795, when he was seventy-one. The Academy's Council 'unanimously resolved' to subscribe on 19 July 1802 on the basis of 'the well-known Abilities of the Author, & the recommendations of Gentlemen present, who had seen the Work.' (RA Council Minutes III, 151-52). Stubbs was paid 3 guineas in advance for the first number (RA Treasurer's Account Book, 'Abstract of Bills', Midsummer Quarter, 1802) and another 3 guineas for his second number a year later (this was probably at the time the first number was delivered to the subscribers since William Upcott recorded that this had just appeared when he visited Stubbs in late August 1803). The third and final number seems to have followed at around the time of Stubbs's death in 1806. (Although the Academy had paid 3 guineas for this in advance, there is no evidence that it was ever received.)

Numbers IV-VI of Stubbs's Comparative anatomy were never published, as only the first thirty plates of the work were completed at the time of his death. The letter-press explanation of the plates was printed for binding up in a separate quarto volume. However, when the printseller Edward Orme reprinted the latter in 1817 he is said to have been unable to obtain a copy of Stubbs's original text and had to resort instead to printing a translation of a French manuscript found amongt his papers. Copies of Stubbs's original text are held in the libraries of the Royal College of Surgeons and the Natural History Museum in London; the Academy's example was already marked as missing in the Secretary's copy of the 1821 printed Library catalogue.

For these plates Stubbs employed stipple- rather than line-engraving, which well reproduces the careful shading of his finished drawings. The drawings themselves are preserved at the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.