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Al-Razi, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya (Rhazes).
Opus medicinae practicae saluberrium, antehac nusquam impressum, Galeatii de sancta Sophia in nonu tractatum libri Rhasis ad Regem Almansorem, de curatione morborum particularium, huic seculo accomodatissimum [...]. Hagenau, Valentian Kobian, 25 March 1533.
Folio (215 x 316 mm). (4), 125 ff., final blank f. Title-page printed in red and black. With woodcut title border and numerous initials. - (Bound after) II: Hyginus, C[aius] Julius. Fabularum liber [...]. Basel, Johann Herwagen, March 1535. (24), 246, (2) pp. With 2 different printer's devices, 48 woodcuts in the text and numerous initials. - (Bound after) III: Alexander Trallianus. De singularum corporis partium, ab hominis coronide ad imum usque calcaneum, vitiis, aegritudinibus, & injuriis [...]. Basel, Heinrich Petri, (March 1533). (18) ff. (last blank), 342, (6) pp. With repeated woodcut printer's device and numerous initials. Contemporary wooden covers with blindstamped leather spine on four double bands. 2 clasps. The principal work of Rhazes, hailed as the "Arabic Galen", frequently reissued with a wealth of commentaries as late as the Renaissance. Dedicated to Prince Almansor of Chorasan, this edition contains the commentary of the physician Galeazzo da Santa Sofia (d. 1427), a native of Padua who served in Vienna as the personal physician to Duke Albrecht IV - likely the only edition of this commentary. The volume was edited by the physician Georg Kraut, who contributed a "Libellus introductorius in artem parvam Galeni de principiis universalibus totius medicinae". - II: Bound before this is the first edition of this variously reprinted collection of Hyginus's mythographical works, "an indispensable aid for the knowledge of the subject matter of Greek tragedy" (Tusc. Lex. Lit.). This is the first appearance in print of the "Fabularum liber", edited by Jacob Micyllus; the finely illustrated "Poeticon astronomicon" had first appeared in 1482. - III: Also bound within the same volume is the second Latin edition of the works of Alexander from Tralles in Lydia (525-ca. 605), the third great physician of the Byzantine epoch, edited by the learned Swiss physician Alban Thorer (Albanus Torinus, 1489-1516). - Traces of a removed title label on the upper cover of the well-preserved binding. Finely penned annotations to Rhazes; the other works contain marginalia in a different hand. An old ownership appears to have been removed from the upper blank margin of Hyginus. Wants the first free endpaper. Some dampstaining to upper margins throughout; other margins show only occasional staining; otherwise largely clean with insignificant browning. I. VD 16, M 6766. Adams R 225. BM-STC German 634. Benzing 115, 5. Bird 2030. Burg 187. Durling 1747. Haeser I, 705. Panzer VII, 111, 362. Wellcome I, 5748. Not in Lesky, Osler or Waller, not in Wolfenbüttel. - II: VD 16, H 6479. Honeyman 1738. Houzeau/L. 762. Panzer VI, 306, 1013. BM-STC German 427. Schweiger II.1, 464. Zinner 1592. Not in Adams. - III. VD 16, ZV 394. BM-STC German 20. Adams A 701 (incomplete). Choulant, Ält. Med. 136. Durling 147. Wellcome I, 206 (incomplete). Cf. Puschmann I, p. 99.
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Razi, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al- (Rhazes) / Arcolano, Giovanni (ed.).
Omnes, qui proximis seculis scripserunt, medicos longe excellentis opera [...]. In quibus sunt & commentarii in Razis Arabis nonum Lib. ad regem Almansorem [...]. Basel, Heinrich Petri, 1540.
Folio (225 x 331 mm). (12), 747, (1) pp. With 2 (repeated) woodcut printer's devices to title page and final page as well as a half-page woodcut of surgical instruments at the end of the preliminaries. Modern blindstamped brown calf on four raised double bands. Rare edition of this commentary on the ninth book of the treatise dedicated by ar-Razi (also known as Rhazes; 850-923 or 932) to Almansor, the Prince of Chorosan (with the text). "The manual, known as 'Nonus Almansoris', was popular among mediaeval physicians" (cf. GAL S I, p. 419). The work discusses special pathology but excluding pyrology and was one of the most popular textbooks at medical schools and faculties well into the Middle Ages (cf. Hirsch/H. I, 171). Rhazes is considered the greatest mediaeval physician next to Avicenna; he also conducted alchemical experiments. According to his biographer al-Gildaki, he was blinded for refusing to share his secrets of chemistry. - A woodcut on the final page of the preliminaries depicts ten different surgical instruments, including a tongue depressor, a forceps, and various instruments for cauterization. Several minor waterstains throughout, but generally a fine copy. Provenance: Handwritten ownership of the Jesuit College of Louvain, dated 1637, on the title-page. VD 16, A 3222. Durling 249. Cf. Garrison/M. 3666.84; Poletti, p. 11; Wellcome I, 383; M. H. Fikri, Treasures from The Arab Scientific Legacy in Europe (Qatar 2009) no. 46, with double-page spread illustration on p. 82f. (1542 Venice edition).
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[Ruscelli, Girolamo (ed.)].
Delle lettere di principi. Venice, Francesco Ziletti, 1581.
4to (152 x 208 mm). 3 volumes. (6), 236 ff. (6), 203 ff. (8), 284 ff. With woodcut printer's device to title-pages. Early 19th century full vellum with giltstamped spines and double labels. All edges gilt and goffered with a floral design. Rare collection of correspondence by significant personalities and rulers, including Andrea Doria, Annibale Caro, Baldassare Castiglione, Bernardo and Pietro Bibiena, Cardinal Bessarion, Lorenzo and Cosimo de' Medici, Pietro Gonzaga, Hieronimo Fracastoro, Giovanni Bembo, Francesco Guiccardini, Emperor Charles V, Pope Clement VII (Giulio de' Medici), etc. Important both as historical and linguistic documents; the definitive edition. - Ruscelli was a prolific and versatile Italian scholar who published on topics ranging from cartography to alchemy. A native of Viterbo, he eventually settled in Venice, where the first edition of "Delle Lettere Di Principi" was published in 1562 in a single volume. The collection demonstrates the rich social context of 16th century Venice, as Ruscelli himself is a classic example of the multidisciplinary Renaissance man. - Light foxing throughout and occasional light soiling or waterstaining. A prettily bound set with 19th century collection stamp to title-pages of vols. 1 and 3. Edit 16, CNCE 16617. Adams L 564. BM-STC Italian 376. Melzi II, 115f. Gamba 1470 ("a very valuable collection").
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Serapion, Johannes, the younger.
Liber Serapionis aggregatus in medicinis simplicibus. [Add. Galenus]: De virtute centaureae. Venice, Reynaldus de Novimagio (Rainald of Nimeguen), 8 June 1479.
Folio. 136 leaves. 17th century calf (rebacked). Latin translation of an Arabic treatise on simple drugs, traditionally attributed to "Pseudo-Serapion" (or Serapion the Younger), but recently identified as the "Kitab al-adwiya almufrada" (Book on Simple Drugs) by Ibn Wafid (d. 1067), a pharmacologist and physician from Toledo. Ibn Al-Wafid was a man of immense knowledge in all medical matters and therapeutics, with the skills to treat grave and insidious diseases and affliction. He preferred dietetic measures; if drugs were needed, he gave precedence to the simplest ones over compound drugs, and among these, he recommended the least complex, to be used only sparingly and in the lowest dosage possible. While the original Arabic version of the book is considered lost, a manuscript written in Hebrew-Arabic as well as partial translations in Latin and Catalan are preserved. This translation was prepared around 1290 by Simon Januensis (Simon of Genoa) and Abraham ben Shem-Tob of Tortosa. Very rare: a single copy in postwar auction records (Sotheby's, 1977: £1500). HC 14692*. Goff S468. GW M41691. Proctor 4433. BMC V 255. BSB-Ink S-300. GAL S I, 887. P. Dilg, "The Liber aggregatus in medicinis simplicibus of Pseudo Serapion: An Influential Work of Medical Arabism", in: Islam and the Italian Renaissance, ed. by C. Burnett and A. Contadini, Warburg Institute Colloquia 5 (London, 1999), pp. 221-231. P. E. Pormann, "Yuhanna ibn Sarabiyun: Further Studies into the Transmission of his Works", in: Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 14 (2004), 233-262.
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Silvaticus, Matthaeus.
Opus pandectarum Matthei Silvatici cum quotationibus auctoritatum Ply. Gal. et aliorum in locis suis: necnon cum Simone Januense: ac Tabula. Venice, Simone da Lovere, 12 Jan. 1511.
Folio (217 x 298 mm). 198 ff. With one woodcut initial. Late 19th c. boards. Edges sprinkled in red. Fine post-incunabular printing of this important medical compendium and pharmacopoeia, replete with Arabic-derived terminology, strongly based on Avicenna, Serapion the Younger (Ibn Wafid), and Dioscorides. Matthaeus Silvaticus, active around 1300, "was one of the most important mediaeval botanists and pharmacologists. His magnificent compilation from works of earlier physicians, with occasional observations and opinions of his own, presents its subjects in alphabetical order, making this effectively a kind of dictionary. The book's principal value lies in the explanations of various specialist terms from all fields of medicine, in particular several of Arabic origin" (cf. Hirsch/Hübotter IV, 117). - Occasional light browning. Annotated throughout in red ink by a contemporary physician's hand. A good copy despite the unsophisticated modern binding. Edit 16, CNCE 69665. Durling 4206. Panzer VIII, 404, 543. Proctor/Isaac 12960. Wellcome I, 5972. Not in Adams, Bird, Lesky, Osler, or Waller.
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Stamler, Johannes.
Dyalogus de diversarum gencium sectis et mundi religionibus. Augsburg, Erhard Ogelin & Georg Nadler, 1508.
Folio (215 x 310 mm). (2), XXXII, (2) ff. With a fine full-page title woodcut (210 x 185 mm) by Hans Burgkmair (repeated on verso), incorporating a xylographic title showing the 'Sancta Mater Ecclesia' enthroned with a complex allegory depicted below her, both woodcuts boldly and skilfully highlighted in red. Initials, underlining and rubrication throughout in red. 20th century binding using older vellum. First edition of Stamler's dramatic dialogue comparing the religions of the Tartars, Turks, Saracens and Jews, superbly illustrated by Hans Burgkmair. A prefatory letter contains a very early reference to Columbus and Vespucci. - Hans Burgkmair's magnificent woodcut is an ambitious attempt to reproduce the ideas of the author graphically: it shows a seated female figure representing the Church with the globe as a footstool; she sits before a tent, surrounded by the banners of the Papacy and the Empire. The Pope and Emperor kneel before her, and on a lower step sit four queens representing the four non-Christian religions, each bearing a banner with a broken staff. Below them are the figures of the disputants who take part in the dialogue: Dr. Oliverius, theologian; Balbus, historian; Rudolphus, a layman; Arnestes, an apostate; Samuel, a Jew; and Triphon, natural philosopher. - Burgkmair (1473-1531) was the foremost woodcut designer of the early 16th century in Augsburg and became the chief designer for most of Emperor Maximilian's print projects. "With the year 1508, which shows him at the full height of his power in separate woodcuts, Burgkmair's real period as an illustrator of books begins [...] The frontispiece of Stamler's 'Dialogus' shows an unusual delicacy of feeling in the rhythmical articulation and distribution of the masses and the way in which the difficult allegorical subject is controlled and visualized" (Rupe, "Hans Burgkmair as an Illustrator of Books", Print Quarterly 10.2 [1923], p. 177). - In a letter to Jacob Locher dated 1506 on fol. a3v, Stamler refers to the New World discoveries: "I do not make any mention of the newly discovered islands, but of Christopher Colom, their discoverer, and of Albericus Vespucius; on the discovery of the New World (to whom our age is chiefly indebted) behold what treatise I send you" (transl. from Latin). - Later 16th century ownership inscriptions on otherwise blank last verso. A scattering of small wormholes affecting one or two letters, else very well preserved. VD 16, S 8527. Alden/Landis 508/19. Sabin 90127. Harrisse 51. Church 26. JCB I, 47-48. Burgkmair: Hollstein V, 68.81. Dodgson II, 57.1; 70.7. Muther 858.
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Vesalius, Andreas.
De humani corporis fabrica libri septem. Basel, (Johannes Oporinus, June 1543).
Folio (319 x 456 mm). 355 leaves and two folding sheets. Roman and italic types, occasional use of Greek and Hebrew types, printed shoulder notes. Woodcut pictorial title, author portrait, and printer’s device; 7 large, 186 mid-sized, and 22 small woodcut initials; more than 200 woodcut illustrations, including 3 full-page skeletons, 14 full-page muscle men, 5 large diagrams of veins and nerves, 10 mid-sized views of the abdomen, 2 mid-sized views of the thorax, 13 mid-sized views of the skull and brain, and numerous smaller views of bones, organs and anatomical parts. All woodcuts and initials up to page 165 in full contemporary hand colour. Contemporary blindstamped leather over wooden boards with bevelled edges, on five raised double bands, with two clasps. In custom-made solander box. A truly outstanding copy of one of the greatest and most appealing books in the history of science. Preserved in its original binding with the blindstamped initials of its first owner, the German physician Caspar Neefe (1514-79), and with his handwritten annotations throughout, the present copy is partly coloured by a contemporary artist (including the iconic woodcut used as title-page and all anatomical illustrations up to page 165). Caspar Neefe, who later served as personal physician to Duke Albert I of Saxony, acquired the precious volume only a year after its publication and obviously consulted it extensively throughout his career as a medical practitioner. - With the publication of "De humani corporis fabrica" (when he was only twenty-eight) Vesalius revolutionized both the science of anatomy and how it was taught. In his preface he describes his disappointing experiences as a student in Paris and Louvain, stating his intention to reform the teaching of anatomy by giving in this book a complete description of the structure of the human body, thereby drawing attention "to the falsity of Galen’s pronouncements". Vesalius also broke with tradition by performing dissections himself instead of leaving this task to assistants: the striking and dramatic title illustration shows him conducting such a dissection, his hand plunged into a female cadaver (striking in itself, as only the cadavers of executed criminals could be dissected legally and female criminals were rarely executed), surrounded by a seething mass of students. - The "Fabrica" is also revolutionary for "its unprecedented blending of scientific exposition, art and typography" (Norman). The woodcuts by artists of the school of Titian are both iconographically and artistically important. The series of fourteen muscle men show landscapes that, when assembled in reverse order, form a panorama of the Euganean Hills near Padua, a scenery well known to Vesalius while he was at work on the Fabrica. - Of the few copies of the first edition to have come to the market in recent decades, only two were in a contemporary binding. Apart from Vesalius's dedication copy to Emperor Charles V (Christie's New York, 18 March 1998, lot 213: $1,652,500), only a single other partly coloured copy was previously known, a list to which ours must now be added as the third known copy in contemporary colour. - Acquired in 2017; previously in a Tyrolean private medical collection, where the book rested for three generations (erased circular library stamp in the blank lower margin of the title-page). An outstanding copy hitherto unknown to scholarship (cf. the recent census published by Dániel Margócsy, University of Cambridge, below; further relevant correpondence with Dr Margócsy is available upon request). Occasional waterstaining to margins, the splendid binding a little rubbed and bumped, but altogether a wonderfully crisp, wide-margined copy of the first edition. Unquestionably the most desirable copy of a milestone in the history of science still in private hands, and likely the most important medical book obtainable for decades to come. PMM 71. VD 16, V 910. Durling 4577. Cushing VI.A.1. Eimas 281. Norman 2137. Wellcome 6560. Graesse VI.2, 289. Cf. D. Margócsy, M. Somos, S. N. Joffe: "Vesalius' Fabrica: A Report on the Worldwide Census of the 1543 and 1555 Editions", in: Social History of Medicine Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 201–223. For Neefe cf. A. Lesser, Die albertinischen Leibärzte (Petersberg 2015), p. 71-74.
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Angelus de Clavasio.
Summa angelica de casibus conscientie cum additionibus noviter additis. [Lyon, Michel Topié], 15. VII. 1496.
4to (150 x 216 mm). (18), CCCCXVI ff. Title-page printed in red. With one woodcut headpiece. Printed in two columns in gothic type throughout. One Lombardic initial in purple ink with penwork decorations. Original blindstamped full calf over thick wooden boards on 3 raised double bands; 5 large and 8 smaller brass bosses on each cover. Wants clasps. Rare incunabular edition of the "Summa Angelica", beautifully preserved in the original Flemish blind-tooled binding. Both covers are quartered by a cross ornamented with rolls of delicately interlaced rods and bands in the late Gothic style. The four quarters outside the cross are filled with impressions of the same rectangular panel (80 x 52 cm). The panel's inner rectangle is divided into two vertical stripes, each occupied by two interlacing vine branches enclosing within their curves four animals: a bear, boar, goat, and fawn facing a stag, monkey, lion, and hare. Round the margin runs an undulating leafy tendril into whose curves further hares, boars and stags are nested. Examples of this characteristic Flemish design, widespread in the early decades of the 16th century, are known in the Goldschmidt collection (no. 107, plate XLII) and in the Otto Schäfer collection (no. 26), bound ca. 1520 by Louis Bloc in Bruges and ca. 1537 Jacob Clercx de Ghele in Antwerp, respectively. Indeed, so strong is the similarity between the central animal-and-vine compartments of panels used by Bloc and the one at hand, exactly the same size and differing merely in the design of the border and in the fact that they are mirror-inverted, that it is tempting to speculate whether not one was produced as a direct copy of the other. - The principal work of the Franciscan canonist Angelo Carleti di Chivasso (1411-95), this is an alphabetically arranged dictionary of moral theology which develops, in 659 chapters, a set of rules for those desirous of leading a Christian life. First published in 1486, its subjects include a wide range of themes such as necromancy, prostitution, usury, inquisition, and alchemy. The work was widely read and aroused the wrath of Martin Luther, who judged it one of the most harmful symbols of Catholic orthodoxy - so much so that he called it "Summa Diabolica" and publicly burned a copy at Wittenberg on 10 December 1520. - Some contemporary marginal annotations in the text, as well as notes to flyleaf and lower pastedown; pretty ink ornaments applied to the title initial. Endpapers and last few leaves of text wormed. Margins show occasional waterstaining. Spine somewhat wormed; covers very well preserved showing only a little wear. Only fragments of the leather straps survive. - Provenance: later bookplate of the Chilean diplomat, bibliophile and art collector Matías Errázuriz Ortúzar (1866-1953) to front pastedown. Extremely rare: only 12 copies in institutional libraries worldwide, none in the United States or Great Britain, that in the Staatsbibliothek Berlin lost. Copinger II, 1665. GW 1941. Pellechet 3829. BSB-Ink A-534.050. ISTC ia00726400. Cf. Goff A-713 (first ed.). For the binding cf. Goldschmidt 107 and Schäfer 26.
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Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Me'ir / D'Abano, Pietro.
Abrahe Avenaris Judei Astrologi peritissimi in re iudiciali opera [...]. (Venice, Peter Liechtenstein, 31 May 1507).
4to (164 x 208 mm). XCVI ff. (fol. Z4 blank). With numerous woodcut initials, many hand-coloured. Gothic type. 19th century full armorial calf, rebacked, with giltstamped red morocco spine label. First collected Latin edition of the astrological works of Abraham Ibn Ezra. "A versatile genius with a charming Hebrew style, Ibn Ezra disseminated rationalistic and scientific Arabic learning in France, England and Italy [... He] wrote a number of astrological works (Steinschneider lists more than fifty) that were very popular and were translated into many languages. Two were printed in Latin in 1482 and 1485, respectively; and all of them appeared in Latin in 1507 [...] They are rich in original ideas and in the history of scientific subjects" (DSB). "Of an eclectic bent, he inclined towards Neoplatonism and does not entirely disavow astrology [...] Ezra had considerable knowledge of astronomy, and he produced numerous horoscopes and chronological calculations" (cf. Jüdisches Lexikon II, 526f.). - Born in Tudela, in Moorish Spain, Ibn Ezra traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, and had a great outpouring of written works after about 1140, comprising poetry, commentary on the Torah, works on Hebrew grammar, philosophy, and science. His scientific works on astrology were written when he lived in Beziers, France, between 1147 and 1148. - Extensive early ink marginalia, underlinings and manicules throughout. Light dampstaining to outside lower corners, light scattered browning and spotting. - Provenance: Bound in the later 19th century for Robert Loyd-Lindsay, 1st Baron Wantage (1832-1901), co-founder of the British Red Cross, with his arms stamped in gilt to both covers. Subsequently acquired by the Danish-born astronomer Johan Ludvig Emil Dreyer (1852-1926), long established as an historian of science in Ireland and later at Oxford (his bookplate to the front pastedown). Latterly in the library of the noted Russian-American photographer and biologist Roman Vishniac (1897-1990). Adams A 38. BM-STC Italian 2. Steinschneider I, col. 687f., no. 77. Fürst I, 256. DSB IV, 502. Isaac 12998. OCLC 233860948.
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Mundinus (Mondino di Luzzi) / Martinus Polichius de Mellerstadt.
Anathomia Mundini emendata per doctorem melerstat. [Leipzig, Martin Landsberg, 1493].
4to (148 x 208 mm). 40 ff. 34 lines, Gothic type. Title-page with full-page woodcut of an anatomical scene. Modern full calf, bound to style with covers stamped in black. Housed in a custom-made cloth solander case with morocco spine label. First illustrated edition of the first dedicated anatomy book. "The first modern book devoted solely to anatomy [...] Mundinus re-introduced human dissection, which had been neglected for 1500 years before him; he was the most noted dissector of his period. The medieval anatomical vocabulary, well set forth by Mundinus, was derived mainly from Arabic" (Garrison/M.). Mondino de' Luzzi, professor at Bologna, is considered the founder of anatomy in the Middle Ages. His treatise remained popular until the beginning of the 16th century and appeared in multiple editions. - "The subject of anatomy was not taught either by lectures or by dissection in the universities at the middle of the 15th century. An occasional 'anatomy' was held, but the neglect of the subject is well illustrated by the absence of anatomical books. There is only one in the list, that of Mundinus [...]. Mundinus was a professor at Bologna from 1306 to 1326, and was the first to teach anatomy from the subject, usually the corpse of a condemned criminal; but there is the record of a procedure in 1319 against four medical students for body-snatching. His 'Anatomia', written in 1316, was for two hundred years the popular text book" (Osler). - The work "met a need universally felt just at that time and commended itself for its brevity, conciseness, and completeness, as well as for the fact that it taught for each separate organ the necessary anatomic technique" (Choulant, p, 88). The title woodcut shows a man on a chair, "with coat and high cap, in his left hand an open book, on the left side of the picture a rock and six linden trees, below, on a table, a dissected cadaver, beside its left foot lies a curved knife, to the right of the cadaver stands a young man in a short garment, bare-headed and with long curls, grasping the intestines of the cadaver with both hands" (p. 93). - Inner margin of title-page neatly reinforced; illegible old library stamp to lower margin and old handwritten number "6" to upper corner. Tiny repair to blank outer margin of final leaf. Scattered light browning, mostly marginal. Very rare: a single copy in auction records since 1979). From the library of the noted Russian-American photographer and biologist Roman Vishniac (1897-1990). H 11633. Goff M-874. GW M-25670. Bod-inc M-330. Sheppard 2122. Proctor 2994. Wellcome I, 4484. Poynter 392. Klebs 688.6. Choulant, History and Bibliography of Anatomic Illustration, p. 93, no. 4. Cf. Garrison/M. 361; Osler, Incunabula Medica 156 (for the 1478 edition).
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Erasmus von Rotterdam.
Morias enkomion, id est Stultitiae laus, libellus vere aureus, nec minus eruditus, & salutaris, quam festiuus, nuper ex ipsius autoris archetypis diligentissime restitutus. Strasbourg, Matthias Schürer, November 1514.
4to (198 x 145mm). 53, (1) ff. Historiated woodcut border on title-page, one white on black woodcut initial, some Greek type. Modern vellum, red edges. Rare early edition of Erasmus's "Praise of Folly", which was first published in Paris in 1511. Conceived by Erasmus on his journey from Italy to England, it was written in a little over a week during his stay at the house of Thomas More in London in 1509 (to whom the work is also dedicated). - More than a mere distraction or trifle, this work is an acerbic, humorous attack on the foolishness that ruled church and state in the period. "It satirizes the old learning, the old medieval world, the monks and friars, the pilgrimages and processions, the cult of saints, in a style of biting humour. Erasmus was a great humourist, subtly ironical and elusive" (F. A. Yates, Ideas and Ideals in the North European Renaissance [1984], 155). It was extremely popular, said to be enjoyed even by Pope Leo X; 35 editions followed its first printing in Paris. While its author remained steadfastly within the Roman Catholic Church throughout his life, this satire and the critiques it contained played a crucial role in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation. Early versions of this work are hard to find. - In a letter written in May 1515, Erasmus himself described the book as light relief from the kidney-stone by which he was afflicted: "my library had not yet arrived ... so, for want of employment, I began to amuse myself with Praise of Folly, not with the intention of publishing the result, but to relieve the discomfort of sickness by this sort of distraction" (Praise of Folly [Oxford, 1913], Introduction, p. XIV). He had earlier, in a letter to More, described it as a "trifling thing" (Letter 222, June 1511, Correspondence of Erasmus Vol. II). - Attractive textual annotation in margins, in red ink in the same humanist hand (some lost to trimming of pages) that appears to have dated the title-page 1518, four years after publication. There is also sparser annotation in a second, later hand, in darker ink. - Worming to lower blank margins with loss of a few letters, repaired in gatherings E and F; staining throughout, some loss to title due to trimming. VD 16, E 3182. BM-STC German 282.
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Euclid.
Elementorum geometricorum lib. XV. Basel, Johann Herwagen, August 1537.
Folio (196 x 305 mm). (8), 587, (1) pp. With woodcut printer’s device on title and final verso, ornamental woodcut capitals and diagrams. Latin text with Greek letters used for designating points on geometric diagrams. Contemporary Parisian full calf, panelled in blind with gilt fleur-de-lys at corners and enclosing gilt fleuron centrepiece, spine with raised bands with small rosettes in compartments. First Latin edition of the "Elements" published by Hervagius. Remarkably, this copy clearly was in the hands of an Arabic speaker in France soon after printing, as it bears notes in Arabic and Latin on title and last leaf ("Euclid the Philosopher ... there is no God but God", "The book of Euclid the philospher on geometry in the Latin language ... There is no God but God Amen", and "In the city of Paris centre of the peoples of the earth" etc.). - This edition is joined for the first time in print by Euclid's only work on mechanics, "De levi et ponderosa", not hitherto known in any Greek manuscript. "According to Arabic sources, [Euclid] wrote a Book on the Heavy and Light, and when Hervagius was about to publish his 1537 edition there was brought to him a mutilated fragment [...] it is the most precise exposition that we possess of the Aristotelian dynamics of freely moving bodies" (DSB IV, 431). The edition also contains several of his smaller tracts on spherical geometry ("Phaenomena"), optics ("Perspectiva"), geometrical exercises ("Data"), which had joined previous editions, and commentaries of both Campanus and Zamberti, as well as the "Protheoria" by Marinus of Sichem. This copy is complete with the preface by Melanchthon often censored in other copies (cf. Thomas-S.). Herwagen was responsible for publishing the Greek editio princeps in 1533. - Ink underlinings and marginalia in Greek to preface. Corners of binding repaired, as are the upper joint and head and foot of lower joint. Blank corner of m5 torn away, tiny marginal hole in o5, occasional insignificant spotting and browning. Various pen trials and scoring of front free endpaper into geometric circles. - Provenance: 1) Nicolas Marchant (ink inscriptions on title and front free endpaper, one dated 1632). 2) Claude Simone (ownership inscriptions on title in Latin and Greek). VD 16, E 4154 (M 1009). Adams E 974. BM-STC German 288. Thomas-Stanford, p. 25, no. 9. Riccardi, p. 414/16. Schweiger I, 111. Hoffmann II, 42.
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Paulus Venetus.
Expositio in libros posteriorum Aristotelis (ed. Franciscus de Benzonibus & Mariotus de Pistorio). Venice, Reynaldus de Novimagio & Theodorus de Reynsburch, 14. VI. 1477.
Folio (197 x 280 mm). (179) ff. [instead of 180, lacking first blank]. 2 columns, 50 lines. Rubricated throughout in red and blue. With a large "O" initial (15 lines high) and a 10-line "Q" initial, both beautifully illuminated in blue, orange, green, purple, and gold; decoration extending along the inner margin. Contemporary vellum with handwritten title to flat spine; remains of two ties. First edition of this important commentary on Aristotle's "Posterior Analytics" by the leading logician of the Middle Ages, Paul of Venice (1368-1428), an Augustinian hermit from Udine and the period's foremost authority on Aristotle. His commentary is the first dated work from the press of Reynaldus de Novimagio (Rainald von Nimwegen), probably in collaboration with Theodor von Raynsburch. It is here edited by Francesco Benzoni e Mariotto da Pistoia. - This copy has a large armorial illumination (a bull Or on a shield Vert, annotated "R.D. ... da Bagno") in the lower margin of the first leaf (slightly trimmed at the bottom). Wants the first blank leaf, otherwise entirely complete. A small wormhole in the blank margin of the first leaves. A beautifully illuminated copy, annotated throughout in several early hands. HC 12511*. Goff P-212. GW M30316. BMC V, 253. BSB-Ink P-93. Proctor 4427.
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Thomas Aquinas, St.
[Summa contra gentiles]. De veritate catholicae fidei contra errores infidelium seu Summa catholicae fidei. [Strasbourg, printer of Henricus Ariminensis (Georg Reyser?), not after 1474].
Royal folio (273 x 398 mm). Gothic type. 248 ff. (incl. final blank). 49 lines. 2 columns. Contemporary south German decoration: each of 4 books opening with an illuminated initial with extensions; rubricated throughout in red and blue. Modern calf, early index tabs. Editio princeps. Magnificent copy of the rare first edition of one of St. Thomas Aquinas's two masterpieces which systematized Latin theology. The printer is commonly referred to as "the printer of Henricus Ariminensis"; the ISTC suggests the Eichstädt printer Georg Reyser (active until 1503; cf. ADB 28, 368f.) known for his characteristic type, or, following Pellechet, Heinrich Eggestein. - "The combination of theology and philosophy which was the basis of scholasticism found its finest expression in [St. Thomas's] writings. Aquinas held that knowledge came from two sources: the truths of Christian faith and the truths of human reason. Each is a distinct source, but the revelation which comes from faith is the greater of the two, and its chief characteristic is that it consists of mysteries to be believed rather than understood" (PMM 30 for the editio princeps of the 'Summa Theologiae' published in 1485). The 'Summa de veritate catholicae fidei contra gentiles' (Treatise on the Truth of the Catholic Faith, against Unbelievers), written in Rome, 1261-64, was composed at the request of St. Raymond of Pennafort, who desired to have a philosophical exposition and defence of the Christian Faith, to be used against the Jews and Moors in Spain. It is a perfect model of patient and sound apologetics, showing that no demonstrated truth (science) is opposed to revealed truth (faith). It is worthy of remark that the Fathers of the Vatican Council, treating the necessity of revelation (Coast. "Dei Filius", c. 2), employed almost the very words used by St. Thomas in treating that subject in this work (I, cc. iv, V). - First leaf a little defective and repaired, minor marginal repairs in first 4 leaves, small stain at a few extreme upper margins, decoration just shaved. A stamp erased from fol. 4/10r. Hain 1385*. Goff T-190. GW M46563. BMC I 77. ISTC it00190000. CIBN T-162. Collijn, Uppsala 1420. IBP 5291. IDL 4382. IGI 9568. Madsen 3951. Aquilon 644. Michelitsch, Thomasschriften 60. Ohly (Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 1956) 6. Ohly-Sack 2729. Pellechet 986. Polain, Belgique 4761. Proctor 322. Rhodes, Oxford Colleges 1697. Sack, Freiburg 3437. Sajó-Soltész 3256. Schüling 816. Sheppard 233. Voulliéme, Berlin 2179. Walsh S-110B.
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Ibn Sina (Avicenna) / Mantino, Jacob (transl.).
Avicennae quarta fen primi libri de universali ratione medendi. Nunc primum M. Iacob Mantini medici hebrei opera Latinate donata. (Venice, Lucantonio Giunta, 8 April 1530).
8vo. 60 ff. With Giunta's device on the title-page (a Florentine lily with the L. A. initials). Later vellum with more recent end leaves. First edition of Jacob Mantino's translation into Latin of the fourth part of the first book of Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine (original title: al-Qanun fi at-Tibb), divided into 31 chapters. Mantino dedicated it to the Doge of the Venetian Republic, Andrea Gritti (1455-1538). - Jacob Mantino (1490-1549) was a Jewish doctor, rabbi and philosopher. He was born in Spain, but he, his family and the Jewish community in Tortosa were forced to flee after refusing Catholic baptism, as decreed by King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Spain. Mantino grew up in Italy and studied philosophy and medicine at the universities of Bologna and Padua. Most of his adult life was spent being a doctor to the pope and other prominent members of society like cardinals, bishops and ambassadors in Bologna, Verona, Venice and Rome. He was also involved in the (religious) controversy over Henry VIII's divorce from Catharine of Aragon. In 1549, just before his death, he moved to Damascus as ambassador of Venice. Mantino's intellectual production focused on the translation of scientific works from Hebrew and Arabic into Latin, especially medical and philosophical treatises by leading authors of the medieval period, including Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides), Ibn Rushd (Averroes), and Ibn Sina (Avicenna). - Abu 'Ali al-Husayn Ibn Sina (also known by his Latinized name Avicenna, 980-1037) was one of the most prominent intellectuals of the medieval period and of the Islamic Golden Age. He was a Persian polymath; he wrote works on an incredible wide variety of subjects, including philosophy, medicine, astronomy, geography, psychology, Islamic theology, physics, and even poetry. Ibn Sina is mainly known for his medical encyclopaedia The Canon of Medicine, which became a standard medical text for medical students until the late 17th century. - The present work was printed by one of the most successful and important late 15th and early 16th century Italian publishers, Lucantonio Giunta (1457-1538). He was originally from Florence, but was active in Venice from 1489. He was a member of the Giunta family of printers, publishers and booksellers, who were active throughout Europe. - With owner's inscriptions on the front and back paste-downs and on the title-page, and some marginal annotations in brown ink. The paste-downs are partially covered by the newer, slightly foxed, end leaves. The binding is somewhat stained, light water staining to the first half of the work, small restored tears in the outer margin of leaves d1 and d2 without affecting the text. Otherwise in good condition. Durling 397. Edit 16, CNCE 3543. USTC 811590.
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Al-Razi, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya (Rhazes).
Liber ad Almansorem sive Tractatus medicinae I-X. Liber divisionum. De aegritudinibus juncturarum. De aegritudinibus puerorum. De secretis sive aphorismi. Antidotarium. De praeservatione ab aegritudine lapidis; Introductorium medicinae. De sectionibus et ventosis. Synonyma. De animalibus. Add:Tabula de herbis medicis; Maimonides: Aphorismi; Mesue (the elder): Aphorismi; Hippocrates: Secreta; Prognosticatio secundum lunam; Capsula eburnea; De humana natura; De aere et aqua et regionibus; De pharmaciis; De insomniis; Avenzohar: De cura lapidis. [Venice], Bonetus Locatellus for Octavianus Scotus, 7. X. 1497.
Folio. 159, (1 blank) ff. Text set in two columns in a gothic rotunda type with the headings of different capitals ("CAP. ...") set in roman type. With spaces (left blank) for hand-drawn initials and with some woodcut initials throughout. With the woodcut printer's device of Octavianus Scotus at the end of the work. 18th-century brown goatskin, blind-tooled double fillet frame on both boards, gilt-ruled spine with red morocco spine label lettered in gold, gold-tooled board edges and inner dentelles, red edges, orange ribbon marker, marbled endpapers. Extremely rare second edition of Al-Razi's "Kitab al-Mansuri" (Book of Medicine dedicated to Mansur): a short general textbook on medicine in ten chapters, which he dedicated to the Samanid prince Abu Salih al-Mansur ibn Ishaq, governor of Ray, in 903. The work was rendered into Latin as "Liber ad Almansorem" by Gerard de Sabloneta, a 13th-century Italian who specialized in translating Arab medical texts and is said to have translated the work of the great Islamic scholar Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037) by order of Emperor Frederick II. The first Latin printed edition of "Al-Mansuri" was produced in Italy in 1481. This incunabular edition contains all ten books of the "Liber ad Almansorem", which were seldom printed together: usually only parts of the book were published, most frequently Book 9, which was a popular text under the Latin title "Liber nonus ad Almansorem", and numerous editions were printed in Renaissance Europe with commentaries by prominent physicians of the day, containing descriptions and treatments for a wide range of physical ailments, including epileptic fits, gall stones, ulcers, and toothaches. The ten books present here are considered one of the first medical textbooks printed, covering a range of medical subjects: (1) anatomy and physiology, (2) the tempers, (3) simple remedies, (4) health, (5) skin diseases, (6) diet, (7) surgery, (8) poisons, (9) diseases of the various organs, and (10) fevers. This edition also includes the author's famous treatise titled "De aegritudinibus puerorum", the first treatise entirely devoted to childhood diseases. He clearly discusses the etiology and semeiology of 24 such ailments (including smallpox and measles) with their mostly herbal remedies, each one in a separate chapter. This is followed by additional short treatises by various authors, including Musa ibn Maymun (Maimonides), Yuhanna ibn Masawaih (Mesue the Elder), and ibn Zuhr of Seville (Avenzoar). - This is one of the main works in mediaeval and Renaissance medicine, written by the Persian physician Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Zakariyya al-Razi (854-925, often known as Razi, Rhazes or Rhasis), arguably the most celebrated and most original of the mediaeval writers during the Islamic Golden Age. He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of medicine and had a widespread influence on both the Islamic world and late mediaeval European medicine. A comprehensive thinker, al-Razi made fundamental and enduring contributions to various fields, which he recorded in over 200 manuscripts, and is particularly remembered for numerous advances in medicine through his observations and discoveries. An early proponent of experimental medicine, he became a successful doctor and served as chief physician of Baghdad and Shahr-e Rayy hospitals. As a teacher of medicine, he attracted students of all backgrounds and interests and was said to be compassionate and devoted to the service of his patients, whether rich or poor. He was the first to clinically distinguish between smallpox and measles, and suggested sound treatments for the former. - In translation, al-Razi's medical works and ideas became known among mediaeval European practitioners and thus profoundly influenced medical education in the Latin West. Some parts of his "Liber ad Almansorem", namely "On Surgery" and "A General Book on Therapy", became part of the medical curriculum in Western universities. Edward Granville Browne considers him "probably the greatest and most original of all the Muslim physicians, and one of the most prolific as an author". He has also been described as the father of paediatrics and as a pioneer of obstetrics and ophthalmology. Notably, he became the first human physician to recognize the reaction of the eye's pupil to light. - Early editions of al-Razi’s "Liber ad Almansorem" are extremely uncommon on the market, with only two auction records on RBH for this second edition of 1497 (in 1955 and 1994), the first 1481 edition being equally rare, if not rarer. - With some 17th century marginal annotations (partly cut off). Binding slightly worn around the edges, boards very slightly shaved. Some very light staining to the first and last leaves, otherwise in good condition. HC 13893. Goff R-176. GW M38002. BMC V, 448. BSB-Ink R-161. IDL 3908. ISTC ir00176000. Proctor 5082. Schuman, From Hammurabi to Gesell 12. Stillwell R 170. Not in Bod-Inc. Cf. Hamel, Bibliographie der astronomischen Literatur bis 1700, p. 367 (1500 ed.); Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science I, 609.
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[Bidpai - Panchatantra].
[Kalilah wa-Dimnah - Italian]. Del governo de' regni. Sotto morali esempi di animali ragionanti tra loro. Ferrara, Domenico Mammarelli, 1583.
8vo (105 x 159 mm). (3), 69 (but: 68), (1) ff. With two different woodcut devices to title-page and colophon; several pretty woodcut initials. Contemporary Italian carta rustica binding. Rare first Italian edition of these Fables of Bidpai. Reprinted in 1610 and again in 1872. First translated from the Pehlevi version into Arabic under the title "Kalilah wa-dimnah" by Ibn al-Muqaffa and subsequently into Greek by Simeon Seth, whose version is known under the title of "Stephanites kai Ichnelates". From this version the present Italian one is derived. - The ancient Sanskrit Panchatantra fables, a classic of the genre, are thought to have been assembled ca. 200 BC out of stories from an even older oral tradition. The stories became known in Europe through Hebrew translations of Arabic versions under the name Bidpai. Featuring animals as a mirror for human behaviour, the fables were intended to educate people, especially young rulers. - Binding a little stained. Interior shows occasional browning and very minor staining; old ink annotations to pastedown and flyleaf. An appealing copy. Chauvin II, p. 24, no. 38A. BM-STC Italian 309. Edit 16, CNCE 35122. OCLC 22606298. Not in Adams.
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Allaxinus, Jacobus.
Medicae aliquot disceptationes eruditissimae, quibus recentiorum & Arabum permulti errores ad veterum disciplinam expenduntu. Paris, Christian Wechel, 1535.
8vo. (168) pp. With printer's woodcut device to title-page and final page. 18th century full calf with remains of a gilt spine label; florally gilt spine; all edges red. Marbled endpapers. Silk divider. Scarce work on medicine among the Arabs, referencing Avicenna and Rhazes among other authorities. "The thought of the Arabs was not derivative [...] The original nature of Arab contributions has had an impact on Europe [...] The book by Jacobus Allaxinus found an audience for its treatise [...] on medical topics in the viewpoint of both European and Arabic medicine" (Jordan, The Mentally Retarded, p. 75). - Occasional light brownstains to margins, otherwise a very good, prettily bound copy. Rare: a single copy in auction records of the last 40 years internationally. BM-STC French 11. Durling 172. Wellcome I, 222. Jöcher I, 280. OCLC 14325907. Not in Adams.
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[Cupping].
De cucurbitula libellus. Paris, Christian Wechel, 1541.
8vo. 31, (1) pp. Later blue wrappers. A compact Latin treatise on the ancient medical art of cupping, recorded already in the works of classical medical writers Galen and Celsus. This pocket-size booklet contained everything a doctor needed to know to make use of the technique in mid-sixteenth century Europe. - As typical of humanist medical studies, the anonymous work begins with a brief reflection on the Greek origins of cupping. It then describes the uses of the technique for the extraction of blood and the manipulation of the humours. Already on page 4 the relative safety of the non-invasive procedure is emphasised: "Idque auxilium ut minus vehemens, ita magis tutum". The author then goes on to discuss the various materials used for making the cups or "cucurbitulae" (literally, "little pumpkins" or "gourds"), how to use them, for how long, where in the various areas of the body, and against which ailments they can be employed. Modern readers interested in the history of the use of cupping to reduce pain and inflammation in the lower back will be pleased to see mention of the technique to this end on pp. 27-28. - The book has moderate to severe browning to the edges of the pages thoughout, more pronounced on pp. 11-14 but not affecting the text. On the first and final pages, the cover has formerly become adhesed to the paper, the later removal of which has left marks. The paper cover shows some black staining to the spine; numerous tears in the wrapper reveal frequent use. Rare. BM-STC French 126. Adams D 169. Wellcome I, 1690. OCLC 17534872. Not in Durling.
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Dupuyherbault (Putherbeus), Gabriel.
Theotimus, sive de Tollendis et expungendis malis libris [...]. Paris, Jean Roigny, 1549.
8vo. (48), 283, (5) pp. (including errata leaf and priviledge at end). - Bound with (II): Cardona, Juan Bautista. De expungendis haereticorum propriis nominibus etiam de libris qui de religione ex professo non tractant. Rome, Giuseppe de Angelis, 1576. 152 pp. With woodcut printer's device on title-page. Contemporary limp vellum with ms. spine title. First edition of this notorious 16th century defence of censorship, couched as a dialogue between Theotimus and Nicolaus, which includes biting attacks on authors who were thought to threaten public morals - notably Rabelais. Other widely-received works of a particularly corrupting character that Dupuyherbault (ca. 1490-1566) singles out for criticism include the Arthurian literary cycle, Merlin's prophecies (highly esteemed in the Middle Ages), Ogier the Dane, and especially the 13th century Roman de la Rose: indeed, the author of this work (he writes) must have suffered the fate of Judas, unless he repented of his sins (p. 131). Dupuyherbault is also one of the earliest scholars to note that catalogues of banned books are prone to being exploited as lists of recommended reading by persons who otherwise would have remained ignorant of their existence (p. 238). - Very rare: a single copy in auction records since 1963. A German translation appeared as early as 1581. - II: "A curious little work" (Reusch) in which Cardona, who was himself involved with the Roman Congregation's expurgation efforts, provides an elaborate argument for striking also the names of the heretic authors from their expurged books. The Spaniard J. B. Cardona (1511-89), bishop of Tortosa, suggests that this would bring greater honour to Christ while denying the heretic the honour he craves, whereas preserving their names would be tantamount to giving credit where none is due. The only cases in which the heretic authors' names are to be kept are those in which they are mentioned by pious or learned men with the purpose of refuting or slighting them. "A member of the Index Congregation, Cardinal Gabriel Paleotto, agreed with Cardona and prompted him to have his treatise printed. Gregory XIII accepted the dedication of the work and issued the relevant decree 'for the said reasons as well as for others'" (cf. Reusch I, 454). Rare; a single copy in auction records internationally. - Rather light browning throughout the volume, but an attractive and well-preserved book. I: BM-STC French 145. Adams D 1154. Reusch I, 284. - II: BM-STC Italian 149. Edit 16, CNCE 9486. Reusch I, 453f. OCLC 872432320. Not in Adams.
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Paracelsus [i.e., Philipp Theophrast Bombast von Hohenheim].
Septem libri de gradibus, de compositionibus, de dosibus receptorum ac naturalium. Basel, Peter Perna, 1568.
8vo. (28), 186, (10) pp. Woodcut initials. 19th century marbled boards. All edges red. The Norman copy of the first edition thus, very rare, containing "most of [Paracelsus's] innovations in chemical therapeutics" (Garrison/M.). Paracelsus (ca. 1493-1541) was a key member of the German Renaissance and a pioneer of the medical revolution. He was interested in chemistry, hermeticism, and toxicology alongside and in conjunction with his medical theories, and overturned much of the accepted wisdom of medicine in the West. In doing so, he "rebelled against ancient humoral pathology, which held that all disease resulted from an imbalance of bodily humors, by stating that each disease was a specific entity caused by an agent outside the body" (Norman). The "Septem libri de gradibus", first published in slightly different form in 1562, is one of his most essential works. - Covers lightly rubbed, otherwise in good condition. Provenance: from the Wellcome Library (withdrawn stamp on title verso) and the Norman collection with Haskell F. Norman's printed bookplate. VD 16, P 450. Sudhoff 98. Durling 3480. Wellcome I, 4765. Pagel, Paracelsus, pp. 134-146. Norman 1636 (this copy). Cf. Garrison/M. 1818.
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Holder, Julius.
Dialogus, ein nützliche und warhafftige Beschreibung, eines rechten Wundartzts, unnd seiner Meisterschafft, wider alle Gebrechen und Zufäll des menschlichen Cörpers. Leipzig, (Zacharias Berwald für Nickel Nerlich), 1593.
(5), 91 Bll. Mit Titel in Rot und Schwarz und Druckermarke in Holzschnitt am letzten Blatt verso. Vor- bzw- nachgebunden ein handschriftliches Rezeptbuch der Zeit auf insgesamt 20 Bll. Pergamentskriptband der Zeit auf drei durchzogenen Bünden. Reste von Bindebändern. 8vo. Leipziger Nachdruck der im Jahr zuvor in Frankfurt erschienenen Wundarznei des aus Marbach stammend Mediziners Holder, der zur Zeit der Veröffentlichung als Feldscher und Wundarzt im Dienste des Erzherzogtums Kärnten stand. - Papierbedingt etwas gebräunt; Einband mit kl. Wurmspuren. Stempelung des 19. Jhs. am hinteren Innendeckel. Am vorderen Innendeckel ein hs. Besitzvermerk und Bücherfluch, datiert 1612: Der durch ebendiesen dokumentierte Vorbesitzer Georg Haan ist wohl mit dem 1628 hingerichteten Kanzler im Hochstift Bamberg zu identifizieren, der gemeinsam mit seiner Famile Opfer der Bamberger Hexenprozesse wurde, die zwischen 1612 und 1631 knapp 1000 Menschenleben forderten. Nicht im VD 16 (vgl. für die Erstausgabe H 4338). Vgl. Durling 2453 (ebenfalls die Erstausgabe). Nicht bei Wellcome.
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Abulcasis (Albucasis, Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi) / Ali ibn Isa, Sharaf ad-Din, al-Kahhal / Guy de Chauliac.
Cyrurgiua parva Guidonis. Cyrurgia Albucasis cum cauteriis at aliis instrumentis. Tractatus de oculis Jesu Hali. Tractatus de oculis Canamusali. Venice, Bonetus Locatellus, for the heirs of Octavianus Scotus, 27 Jan. 1500/1501.
Folio (302 x 220 mm). 68 ff. Gothic letter, two columns, 65 lines plus headline. With 5- and 13-line white-on-black woodcut initials, numerous woodcut illustrations of surgical equipment, and woodcut printer's device beneath colophon. Contemporary vellum over carta rustica, lettered in manuscript on upper cover together with the name of the owner, Hieronymus Tattus. Stored in modern black cloth solander case with spine label. The earliest printing of the Surgery of Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, a section of his great "Al-Tasrif": the "first rational, complete and illustrated treatise on surgery and surgical instruments. During the Middle Ages it was the leading textbook on surgery until superseded by Saliceto" (Garrison/M. 5550). This publication pre-dates by nearly two decades the first independent printing. It includes nearly 200 woodcut illustrations of surgical instruments, including a forceps for extracting a dead fetus - a device of the author's own invention, still in use in modified form. - Abu al-Qasim, hailed as the "father of modern surgery", specialized in curing disease by cauterization and designed several surgical devices. He described how to ligature blood vessels almost 600 years before Ambroise Paré and was also the first to describe a surgical procedure for ligating the temporal artery for migraine. His use of catgut for internal stitching is still practised in modern surgery. - Al-Qasim's treatise, by far the longest of the four contained in this volume, is accompanied by two ophthalmological works, the first by the tenth-century oculist 'Ali Ibn Isa of Baghdad, known as Haly Jesus in the Western tradition. In his principal work, "Kitab Tadhkirat al-kahhalin" (GAL S I, 884), which long remained the classical training manual for ophthalmologists, Ibn Isa describes 130 eye diseases and discusses 141 treatments. The Latin translation, available to Western medicine since the 13th century, continued in use by medical schools as late as the early 18th century. - The other work "De oculis", ascribed to Canamusali, is in fact a compilation by David Armenicus (Sack). Prefixed to these is the surgery treatise of Guy de Chauliac (Guido de Cauliaco), physician to several popes in Avignon in the 14th century and "the most eminent surgeon of his time" (Garrison/M. 5556). Locatellus had previously issued the text of Chauliac's treatise in 1498, after this highly important work had first been printed at Lyon in 1478. - A few small wormholes in gutter. Binding soiled and scraped at foot of upper cover, vellum covering shrunk and lacking two pairs of ties. - Provenance: owned by the 16th-century Milanese physician Girolamo Tattus, "vir ... in medicina facienda clarissimi nominis" (Della Torre di Rezzonico, Disquisitiones Plinianae II [Parma, 1767], p. 224), with his inscription on the title-page and upper cover, as well as several autograph annotations to the text. The son of Francesco Tatti, a member of the College of the Physicians of Milan, Girolamo flourished around 1570. His writings have remained unpublished (cf. Argelati, Bibliotheca Scriptorum Mediolanensium [Milan, 1745], col. 1821). He is known to have owned and annotated an illuminated manuscript of Pliny's "Naturalis Historiae", written by Hieronymus Baliocus of Novara in 1479 for Gian Matteo Bottigella of Pavia and his wife Bianca Visconti, later owned by Matteo Luigi Canonici (1727-1805) and acquired in 1817 by the Bodleian Library, Oxford (now Canon. Class. Lat. 295). - Extremely rare: this is the only copy ever to have appeared in the trade, sold at Sotheby's in 1988. Hain 4810 (I). Copinger 1550. Goff G-564. GW 11707. Klebs 497.1. Essling 1247. Ohly-Sack 1330. Oates 2005. Bod-Inc. G-275. Sheppard 4244, 4245, 4246. Proctor 5100. BMC V, 453. BSB-Ink. G-430. Döring-Fuchs G-173. Wellcome 3017. Cf. DSB XIV, 585. GAL I, 239 (276), 24, no. 1.
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Tagault, Jean.
De chirurgica institutione libri quinque. His accessit sextus liber de materia chirurgica, authore Jacobo Hollerio Stempano [...]. Paris, Christian Wechel, 1543.
Folio (210 x 294 mm). (48), 421 pp., 1 leaf of errata, plus 2-leaf illustrated insert after p. 354 as called for. With 10 full-page woodcuts in text. Bound in contemporary vellum with endpapers skillfully renewed. Stored in custom-made half calf clamshell box. Rare first edition, and the only folio printing, of the author's chef d'oeuvre, published in the same year as "De corporis humani fabrica", the similarly grand production of his most famous pupil, Andreas Vesalius. Although lesser-known as a text than his student's groundbreaking masterpiece, Tagault's "De chirurgica institutione" provides an essential piece of the puzzle in understanding the context in which Vesalius came to break new ground. The book's publishing history uncannily mirrors that of "De fabrica", and several of its anatomical diagrams were in fact plagiarized from the "Tabulae sex" through a chain of events yet to be elucidated. - Although he cannot be held in the same light as his eminent pupil, Tagault was an important figure on the cusp of the Vesalian revolution. O'Malley calls him "one of the few members of the faculty actively interested in anatomical studies" (p. 425) and notes that he was performing public dissections as early as 1535, during the period in which Vesalius studied under him (cf. p. 58). O'Malley also notes a story to the effect that the anatomist Jacobus Sylvius - a successful instructor at the University of Paris, but also terribly jealous of Vesalius's rising star - was responsible for advising Tagault on stylistic changes to improve the presentation of his "De chirurgica institutione". - The five books of Tagault's treatise elaborate the writings of Guy de Chauliac (1300-68) on the surgical aspects of tumors, wounds, hernias, ulcers, fractures, and dislocations. 2 full-page woodcut figures ultimately based on Gersdorff show the wound-man and the extraction of an arrow on the battlefield; a further three, in fact plagiarized from the "Tabulae sex", are found on the two leaves inserted at p. 354 following Tagault's treatise, accompanied by numbered legends in Latin and Greek. The precise circumstances surrounding their appearance in this work are intriguing; their position suggests a late addition, perhaps in a nod to the growing popularity of his former student. According to Cushing, the four chief suspects in the transfer of the woodcuts are the anatomist Louis Vassé, the printers Charles Estienne and Christian Wechel, and Tagault himself. Moritz Roth (Andreas Vesalius Bruxellensis, 1892) indeed traced in detail the extent of the plagiarism and cross-flow of the woodblocks between successive editions of Tagault and Vesalius. - The sixth book contains the first appearance in print of Jacques Houiller's "De materia chirurgica", discussing and illustrating the tools of surgery in use during Vesalian times before Pare and Wurtz. - Like "De fabrica", later editions of "De chirurgica institutione" were issued only in reduced format to make the work more widely accessible; the present first edition is the only printing in folio, presenting its marvellous full-page woodcuts to full effect. The large number of editions which Tagault's text enjoyed during the 16th century certainly rivals that of Vesalius and perhaps suggests that the two texts might have competed on the European stage. - Unlike the first edition of "De fabrica", which is readily obtainable in commerce, we have not traced any copy of the first edition of "De chirurgica institutione" at Anglo-American or German auctions in the last 50 years. It is one of just two editions edited by Tagault himself and published during his lifetime; the second edition (1544) was a much less impressive (and far more commonly-encountered) octavo. - A very good copy, fresh and charming despite a very light dampstain to the upper blank margin of a few leaves. Cushing 27. Waller 9444 (lacking index). Not in the Wellcome. Heirs of Hippocrates 190 (the earliest edition noted being 1560).
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Juliette Benzoni
Marianne e lo Sconosciuto Toscano
Collana: I Romanzi Verdi, gennaio 1972. Traduzione di Sergio Ferrero. Secondo volume della serie "Marianne" . Rilegato con copertina rigida e sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Simon Benetton
Viaggio Irrelato
Biblioteca Cominiana, gennaio 2001. A cura di Pier Luigi Rebellato. Introduzione di Enzo Dematt?. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Soft cover in fine conditions, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Mikael Ollivier
Tre Topini Ciechi
Collana: Narratori Moderni, giugno 2004. Traduzione di Piero Pagliano. Rilegato con copertina rigida e sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Piera Paltro
Grazie, Pier Giorgio
Lorenzo Editore, dicembre 1991. Collana di Poesia Janus. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Soft cover in fine conditions, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Paul Bonnecarrère - Joan Hemingway
Rosebud
SEI, novembre 1973. Traduzione di Sergio Zoppi. Rilegato con sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Johannes Mario Simmel
Il Codice Cesare
Collana: La Scala, settembre 1977. Traduzione di Teresina Zemella. Rilegato con sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Isabella Bossi Fedrigotti
Cari Saluti
Collana: La Scala, dicembre 2001. Rilegato con sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Bella firma autografa dell'autrice. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscription or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Joseph O'Connor
Il Maschio Irlandese in Patria e all'Estero
Guanda, marzo 2001. Traduzione di Massimo Birattari. Collana: Biblioteca Della Fenice. Brossura con bandelle. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Soft cover in fine conditions, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Sylvie Germain
La Sconosciuta di Praga
Santi Quaranta, novembre 2009. Traduzione di Olivo Bin. Collana: Il Rosone 78. Brossura con bandelle. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Soft cover in fine conditions, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Christiana de Caldas Brito, Helene Paraskeva, Yousef Wakkas, Gianguido Palumbo, Laila Wadia, Artur Spanjolli, Tahar Lamri, Randa Ghazy, Mihai Mircea Butcovan, Paolo Gavagna.
Il Carro di Pickipò - Racconti - A cura di Paolo Gavagna e Raffaele Taddeo
Ediesse, novembre 2006. Associazione Fabio Sormanni. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. Soft cover in fine conditions, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Sergio Marano
Sinfonia Prussiana
Santi Quaranta, aprile 2006. Collana: Il Rosone 64. Brossura con bandelle. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandat entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Soft cover in fine conditions, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Lincoln Child
Morte tra i Ghiacci
Collana: Rizzoli Best, gennaio 2010. Traduzione di Adria Tissoni. Titolo originale: Terminal Freeze. Rilegato con sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Bino Sanminiatelli
Via della Micia 3
Vallecchi Editore, novembre 1985. Rilegato con sovraccoperta editoriale. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Sam Bourne
Il Segreto del Monte Sacro
Collana: La Gaja Scienza, novembre 2008. Traduzione di Sara Caraffini. Rilegato con copertina rigida e sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Pietro Ghilarducci
Il Bivio
Collana: La Scala, gennaio 1981. Rilegato con copertina rigida e sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Leonardo Cemak
Un Peccato Originale
Rizzoli, giugno 1989. Prefazione di Federico Zeri. Rilegato con copertina rigida e sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Vignette satiriche. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Michael Crichton e Richard Preston
Micro
Collana: Narratori Moderni, novembre 2012. Traduzione di Doriana Camerlati. Rilegato con copertina rigida e sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Harold Robbins
Gli Eredi
Mondadori, ottobre 1982. Traduzione di Adriana Macchetta. Titolo originale: The Inheritors. Rilegato con sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Joseph Barry
George Sand
Dall'Oglio Editore, ottobre 1980. Traduzione di Anna Colombo. Rilegato con sovraccoperta illustrata. Ordinarie tracce d'uso. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Annalisa Angelucci
La Sciagurata
Baldini & Castoldi, settembre 1995. Brossura con bandelle. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Soft cover in good conditions, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Franco Latini
Hitler e la Germania - Psychopathia Sexualis
Individual Mathematical Library, 2006. Brossura con bandelle. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Soft cover in fine conditions, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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David Guterson
Oltre il Fiume
Collana: La Gaja Scienza, febbraio 2000. Traduzione di Marcella Dallatorre. Rilegato con copertina rigida e sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Carlo Della Corte
Caccia in Laguna
Collana: Il Rigogolo, agosto 1969. Rilegato con sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Judith Burnley
Una Donna Sposata
Collana: Scrittori Italiani e Stranieri, maggio 1977. Traduzione di Giulia Fretta. Rilegato con copertina rigida e sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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Carmen Covito
Del Perché i Porcospini Attraversano la Strada
Bompiani, aprile 1995. Rilegato con copertina rigida e sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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J. M. Allen
Atlantide l'Ultima Verità - Nelle Ande, la soluzione al più grande mistero di tutti i tempi
Collana: Rivelazioni, ottobre 1998. Traduzione di Elena Giovanelli. Rilegato con copertina rigida e sovraccoperta. Prima edizione. Spedizioni tracciabili con raccomandata entro 24 ore dall'ordine. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket in fine conditions, no price clipped, no inscriptions or markings inside. Worldwide delivery.
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