Gray's Anatomy - Currently Available Editions

Currently Available Editions

The newest, 40th edition of Gray's Anatomy was published on 26 September 2008 by Elsevier under the Churchill Livingstone imprint in both print and on-line versions. The senior editor of this book and accompanying website is Professor Susan Standring, who is Emeritus Professor of Anatomy at King's College London. The two most recent editions differ from all previous editions in an important respect: They present anatomical structures by their regional anatomy (i.e. ordered according to what part of the body the structures are located in – e.g. the anatomy of the bones, blood vessels and nerves, etc. of the upper extremity is described in one place). All previous editions of Gray's Anatomy were organized by systemic anatomy (i.e. there were separate sections for the body's entire skeletal system, entire circulatory system and entire nervous system, etc.). The editors of the 39th edition acknowledged the validity of both approaches, but nevertheless switched to regional anatomy by popular demand.

Older, out-of-copyright editions of the book continue to be reprinted and sold. On the World-Wide Web in particular, there are numerous offers for older editions. Unfortunately it is not always clear which (British or American) edition these books are republications of. Many seem to be reprints of the 1901 (probably U.S.) edition. Also on the World-Wide Web, there are several sites where various older versions can be read online. Although older editions may serve historic and artistic uses because their companion illustrations and anatomical cross sections are renowned for their rustic and often haunting presentation, they no longer represent an up-to-date anatomical understanding.

Henry Gray wrote the original version of Gray's Anatomy with an audience of medical students and physicians in mind, especially surgeons. For many decades however, precisely because Gray's textbook became such a classic, successive editors made major efforts to preserve its position as possibly the most authoritative text on the subject in the English language. Toward this end, a long-term strategy appears to have been to make each edition come close to containing a fully comprehensive account of the anatomical medical understanding available at the time of publication. Given the explosion of medical knowledge in the 20th century, it is easily appreciated that this led to a vast expansion of the book, which threatened to collapse under its own weight in a metaphorical and physical sense. From the 35th edition onward, increased efforts were made to reverse this trend and keep the book readable by students. Nevertheless, the 38th edition contained 2,092 pages in large format – the highest page count of any and an increase from the 35th edition, which had 1,471 pages. The current 40th edition has 1,576 pages. Newer editions of Gray's Anatomy –and even several recent older ones– are still considered about the most comprehensive and detailed textbooks on the subject. Despite the aforementioned efforts to keep Gray's Anatomy readable by students, when the 39th edition was published, students were identified as a secondary market for the book, and companion publications such as Gray's Anatomy for Students, Gray's Atlas of Anatomy and Gray's Anatomy Review have also been published in recent years.