Hippocrate

1685 · rif. OV-039 — Amsterdam: Henricus Wetstenius 1685. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Good. Hippocrates. Hippocratis Aphorismi edited by Theodorus Janssonius ab Almeloveen. Amsterdam: Henricus Wetstenius 1685. First edition of Almeloveen's influential edition of the Hippocratic Aphorisms. An unusually appealing pocket-format seventeenth-century edition of one of the foundational texts of Western medicine. Almeloveen presents the Aphorisms of Hippocrates in Greek and Latin supplemented with parallel passages drawn particularly from Hippocrates and the Roman medical writer Aulus Cornelius Celsus with additional material from Celsus following the principal text. The engraved title bears a portrait of Hippocrates and the Amsterdam imprint of Henricus Wetstenius dated 1685. Bound in what appears to be contemporary full calf with raised bands and extensive gilt decoration to the spine including a gilt-lettered title compartment. The leather remains attractive and remarkably intact for a volume approximately 340 years old showing expected rubbing surface wear and edge wear particularly at the corners and spine extremities. Gilt tooling remains clearly visible. Binding remains solid and usable. Interior shows expected age toning occasional spotting and evidence of historical use. The engraved Hippocrates title/portrait is present and remains attractive. No major structural defects observed in the material examined. Because of the age and tightness of the binding the volume has not been aggressively opened or collated leaf-by-leaf in order to preserve the original binding. A particularly appealing early medical book: the first Almeloveen edition of the Hippocratic Aphorisms printed in Amsterdam in 1685 and preserved in a handsome contemporary leather binding. Henricus Wetstenius hardcover