Conjoined twins: situs inversus viscera. Ritta and Christina Parodi. From Étienne Serres 1832 Recherches d’anatomie transcendante et pathologique. (British Library)
Kartagener’s syndrome. Dissected infant showing situs inversus viscera. From George Leclerc Buffon 1777 Histoire naturelle générale et particulière. (Wellcome Library, London)
Cyclopia. Stillborn infant, Firme, Italy (1624). From Fortunio Liceti 1634 De monstrorum natura caussis et differentiis. (Wellcome Library, London)
Cyclops wooing Galatea. From Blaise de Vigenère 1624 Les images Philostratus. (British Library)
Cyclopia with conjoined twinning. Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. From Fortunio Liceti 1634 De monstrorum natura caussis et differentiis. (Wellcome Library, London)
Cyclopia. Stillborn calf. From Willem Vrolik 1844–49 Tabulae ad illustrandam embryogenesin hominis et mammalium tarn naturalem quam abnormem. (Wellcome Library, London)
Cyclopia. Stillborn infant. From B.C. Hirst and G.A. Piersol 1893 Human monstrosities. (Wellcome Library, London)
Wild type mouse; sonic hedgehog-defective mouse. (Chin Chiang, Vanderbilt Medical Center)
Duplication of face in a pig: ‘Ditto’. (Jill Helms, University of California San Francisco)
Sirenomelia or mermaid syndrome in a stillborn foetus. From B.C. Hirst and G.A. Piersol 1893 Human monstrosities. (Wellcome Library, London)
Supernumerary neck auricles on goat and satyr. Pan Raping a Goat. Roman copy of Hellenistic original, second–third century BC. (Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, National Archaeological Museum, Naples. © 2003, Photo Scala, Florence)
Supernumerary auricles. Eight-year-old girl, England 1858. From William Bateson 1894 Materials for the study of variation. (Imperial College London)
Somites in a human embryo. From Franz Keibel 1908 Normentafel zur Entwicklungsgeschichte des Menschen. (Frietson Galis, University of Leiden)
Phocomelia. Skeleton of Marc Cazotte a.k.a. Pepin (1757–1801). From Willem Vrolik 1844–49 Tabulae ad illustrandam embryogenesin hominis et mammalium tarn naturalem quam abnormem. (Wellcome Library, London)
Split-hand-split-foot, or ectrodacytly, or lobster-claw syndrome. Girl with radiograph of mother’s foot, England. From Karl Pearsor 1908 ‘On the inheritance of the deformity known as split-foot or lobster claw’. (Biometrika 9:330–1. Author’s collection)
Acheiropody. An aleijadinho, Brazil 1970s. (Ademar Freire-Maia, UNESP – Paulista State University)
Phocomelia. Marc Cazotte a.k.a. Pepin (1757–1801). From Willem Vrolik 1844–49 Tabulae ad illustrandam embryogenesin hominis et mammalium tarn naturalem quam abnormem. (Wellcome Library, London)
Mirror-image polydactyly. From William Bateson 1894 Materials for the study of variation. (Imperial College London)
Thanatophoric dysplasia. Stillborn infant, Amsterdam c.1847. From Willem Vrolik 1844–49 Tabulae ad illustrandam embryogenesin hominis et mammalium tarn naturalem quam abnormem. (Wellcome Library, London)
Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva. Harry Eastlack (1930–73), USA 1953. (Linda Lindgren, Los Angeles, and Gretchen Worden, Mütter Museum, Philadelphia)
Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva. Harry Eastlack (1930–73). (1990 © Scott Lindgren, courtesy Blast Books, New York)
Pseudoachondroplasia. Elizabeth Ovitz (1914–92) and siblings. Bat Galim, Israel c.1949. (Yehuda Koren and Eliat Negev, Jerusalem)
Achondroplasia. Mary Ashberry (d.1856) with skull of stillborn infant. (Linda Lindgren, Los Angeles, and Gretchen Worden, Mütter Museum, Philadelphia)
Osteogenesis imperfecta type II. Stillborn infant, Amsterdam. (Jan-Roelof Oostra, Vrolik Museum, Amsterdam)
Pycnodysostosis (putative). Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901). (Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi, Tarn, France)
Pygmy depicted with achondroplasia. Attic red-figure rhyton c.480 BC. (Hermitage, St Petersburg)
Pituitary dwarfism. Joseph Boruwlaski (1739–1837). Unknown painter (Norodwe Museum, Crakow)
Pituitary gigantism. Charles Byrne (1761–1783). (Hunterian Museum. Reproduced by kind permission of The Royal College of Surgeons of England)
Skeletons of Aka pygmy woman, Caucasian male, gorilla. Pygmy skeleton collected by Emin Pasha, Congo 1883. (Wellcome Library, London)
Negritos. Port Blair, Andaman Islands, 1869–80. E.H. Mann. (Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland)
Thibaut-Francesco and Chair-Allah-Luigi, Verona c.1874. From Armand de Quatrefages 1895 The pygmies. (Author’s collection)
Daru or Taron man. Upper Burma c.1937. From F. Kingdon Ward 1927 Plant hunter’s paradise. (J. Rasmussen and The Royal Geographical Society, London)
Myxdematous cretins aged about twenty, with normal man. Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) c.1968. (François Delange, ICCIDD Brussels)
Castrato. Senesino singing Handel’s Flavio, London c.1723. Attrib. William Hogarth. (Victoria and Albert Museum, London)
Proteus syndrome. James Merrick (1862–90). (The London Hospital)
Hermaphroditus asleep. After Nicholas Poussin 1693. (Wellcome Library, London)
Female internal genitalia. From Andreas Vesalius 1543 De humani corporis fabrica. (Wellcome Library, London)
Clitoris and vestibular bulbs. From Georg Ludwig Kobelt 1844 Die Männlichen und Weiblichen Wollusts-Organe des Menschen und Einiger Saugetiere. (Wellcome Library, London)
Male pseudohermaphroditism. Herculine Barbin (1838–68). From E. Goujon 1869 ‘Étude d’un cas d’hermaphrodisme bisexuel imparfait chez l’homme’. Journal de l’anatomie et de la physiologie normales et pathologiques de l’homme et des animaux 6:599–616 (British Library)
Oculocutaneous albinism type II. Zulu man, Natal. From Karl Pearson et al. 1913 A monograph on albinism in man. (Wellcome Library, London)
Linnaeus’ Homo trogylodytes or Bontius’s orang. From Karl Pearson et al. 1913 A monograph on albinism in man. (Wellcome Library, London)
Oculocutaneous albinism type II. Geneviève. From George Leclerc Buffon 1777 Histoire naturelle générale et particulière. (Wellcome Library, London)
Piebalding. Marie Sabina, Columbia 1749. From G.L. Buffon 1777 Histoire naturelle générale et particulière. (British Library)
Piebalding. Lisbey, Honduras 1912. From Karl Pearson et al. 1913 A monograph on albinism in man. (Wellcome Library, London)
Hypertrichosis lanuginosa. Arrigo Gonsalvus, Rome 1599. Detail from Agostino Carracci Arrigo Peloso, Pietro Matto e Amon Nano. (Capodimonte Museum, Naples. © 2003 Photo Scala, Florence)
Hypertrichosis lanuginosa. Petrus Gonsalvus, Austria c.1582. Unknown painter, German school. (Sammlungen Schloss Ambras/Kunsthistorische Museum, Vienna. Photograph © Erich Lessing/AKG, London)
Hypertrichosis lanuginosa. Maphoon, Burma c.1856. E.H. Mann. (Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland)
Supernumerary breast on thigh. (Wellcome Library, London)
Artemis Ephesia in Sweden. Frontispiece of Linnaeus 1761 Fauna svecica. (Wellcome Library, London)
Luigi Cornaro (1464–1566). Tintoretto. (Galleria Palatine. © 1990 Photo Scala, Florence)
Skull of an Australian Aborigine, Arnhem Land. From Armand de Quatrefages 1882 Crania ethnica: les cranes des races humaines.