ROGER GASKELL RARE BOOKS
books from the library of
walter pagel
Part I: 1483 – 1600
From the library of Walter Pagel
Wellcome Library, London
Books from the library of Walter Pagel (–) Part I: –
Roger Gaskell Rare Books
C ROGER GASKELL RARE BOOKS Ramsey Road, Warboys, Cambridgeshire , UK Telephone (+/) Fax (+/) E-mail
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Introduction
WALTER PAGEL was one of the great historians of medicine of the twentieth century. He sought to understand his chosen authors on their own terms and in their own time. Instead of ignoring what was not explicable in modern scientific terms, as his contemporaries were doing, he embraced their ideas, exploring the philosophical, metaphysical and religious background. As Pagel himself pointed out early in his career, ‘we will have to embark on the cumbersome task of reconstructing ancient thought if we wish to write history – and not best-sellers’. It is this historicist approach, giving as much, or more, weight to habits of mind and approaches to the natural world that are still often described as ‘pseudoscience’, which made Pagel a true pioneer; one of the most influential historians of science, not just of medicine, of his generation. While Pagel’s research was centred on three figures, Harvey, van Helmont and Paracelsus, his research took him into seventeenth-century Aristotelianism; chemical and alchemical history; the Hermetic and Gnostic tradition in the Latin West; a range of topics connected with medical history in the Renaissance; a revaluation of Cesalpino; pioneering studies of early sixteenth and seventeenth-century Paracelsians; and his ‘excellent but all too rare excursions into the field of Romantic medicine’. All these are represented in the books offered in the present catalogue of fifteenth and sixteenth-century books, and a forthcoming catalogue of books printed after . They include some of the key pre-Vesalian anatomies and the second edition of Vesalius’ Fabrica; very rare illustrated alchemical texts; and many of the great medieval encyclopedias, several of them in fifteenth-century editions. After his death, Pagel’s papers were transferred to the Wellcome Library and the bulk of his library was sold at Sotheby’s. The sale included about books. Sotheby’s advertised it as Pagel’s entire library, . Walter Pagel, ‘The Vindication of “Rubbish”’, Middlesex Hospital Journal () –, on p. ; reprinted in Pagel, Religion and Neoplatonism in Renaissance Medicine, ed. Marianne Winder () pp. –. . Allen G. Debus, ed., Science, Medicine and Society in the Renaissance. Essays to honor Walter Pagel (), ‘Introduction’, p. . . Sotheby’s, Printed Books. The Library of the Late Dr. Walter Pagel. Sold by Order of the Executors, London, February . There were lots but many lots contained several titles.
unaware, apparently, that Pagel had, in fact, set aside the best books to leave to his son. Before his death, Pagel had selected the rarest books, the most valuable, and the ones most central to his own interests. These he annotated in his own hand, or on a typed slip, ‘Ex libris B. E. J. Pagel,’ occasionally adding a few words on the book’s significance. Bernard Pagel, FRS (–) was an astronomer, though he helped his father with his historical work at least at the end of his life. Bernard corrected and revised the text of the second edition of Walter Pagel’s Paracelsus, an Introduction to Philosophical Medicine in the Era of the Renaissance (). Feeling uncomfortable having so many valuable books in his house, Bernard Pagel placed the books on deposit at King’s College, Cambridge, where they were made available to scholars. Bernard’s widow, Annabel, has donated a fine th century Spanish manuscript of Rupescissa, De consideratione quintae essentiae to King’s; and a copy of Flamsteed, Atlas céleste () to the Royal Society in memory of her late husband. The rest are offered in the present catalogue and the next.
Pagel’s ownership marks All the books in this catalogue are from the library of Walter Pagel (– ). They all carry the ex-libris of his son Bernard Pagel (–) on a slip of paper pasted to the inside of the upper board, typed or written in Walter Pagel’s hand. Walter Pagel signed a few of his books on an endleaf when he acquired them, in some cases with a date, and these inscriptions are recorded in the catalogue. He did not annotate his books, except for some rare notes on the endleaves or on inserted scraps of paper.
. In the introduction to Sotheby’s catalogue, H. A. Feisenberger wrote: ‘During the last twenty-five years we have been entrusted with the sale of several important libraries founded in our time in the field of the history of medicine and science. Among these, the library of Dr. Walter Pagel which is offered in this catalogue has a unique place. It is the collection as it was left at his death... with the exception of a few items which at his wish went to friends and colleagues.’ . Preface, p. xii.
Walter Pagel (–) Allen Debus recalls his first meeting with Walter Pagel: During the year – I was an Overseas Fellow at Churchill College [Cambridge] and I used to visit Professor Pagel once a week to discuss his work as well as my own progress on my dissertation. It was a wonderful experience. His rather small study was packed with his incredible collection of books and – going over the catalog – I can recall when he received some of the items you list. He always told me to buy books and I am glad that I did when there were some th–th century books I could afford. Pagel’s pupil, close friend and disciple, Debus has written several accounts of Pagel’s life and assessments of his intellectual achievements and influence. The following paragraphs are extracted, with permission, from a memorial notice published in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine. Walter Pagel was the son of Julius Pagel who held the Chair in medical history at Berlin and whose two-volume Geschichte der Medizin was published in , the year of Walter’s birth. Pagel frequently spoke of his father’s books which eventually were to be sent to St. Louis after his death in . Young Walter was educated in the classical tradition of the humanistische Gymnasium and during the first World War he aided the wounded in the hospitals. He studied medicine at the Friedrich Wilhelm University, Berlin, where he received his M.D. in , From there he moved to the Robert Koch Institute and then the Berlin Municipal Tuberculosis Hospital at Sommerfeld where he continued his microbiological and immunological research. His special interest in the pathology of tuberculosis was eventually to lead to his Pulmonary Tuberculosis: Pathology, Diagnosis, Management and Prevention (jointly with George Gregory Kayne and L. S. O’Shaughnessy, Oxford University Press, ) which reached a fourth edition by . During the s Pagel’s latent interest in the history of medicine was rekindled by a rereading of the work of van Helmont in ... and then by hearing Henry Sigerist’s anniversary lecture on Harvey in . He was to spend some time with Sigerist at Leipzig, but then went on to Heidelberg where he was able to lecture on the . Personal communication, November . . These include the Introduction to the Festscrift, cited in n. above; and ‘Chemists, Physicans, and Changing Perspectives on the Scientific Rovolution’, Isis () –. . Allen G. Debus, ‘Walter Pagel (–)’, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, () – on p. .
history of medicine as well as pathology. Over the years I have spoken to several of his students from this period and they praised his skill as a lecturer no less than his kindness to those who had no scientific or medical background, but who showed an interest in the history of medicine. Pagel was expelled from his post at Heidelberg when Hitler came to power in and he occasionally spoke with sadness of those whom he had befriended, but who now refused to speak to him on the street. He called this the Pestjahr, and, with his wife and son, the small family decided to leave Germany, first for the laboratory of Albert Calmette in Paris, and then for the Papworth Village Settlement near Cambridge where he established and administered a pathological laboratory. It was at this time that he came into contact with others who had similar historical interests. With Joseph Needham he organized the History of Science Lectures Committee, for which he served as Honorary Secretary from to . This Committee arranged a series of lectures, many by notable scientists from the University. A selection of these was published in as The Background to Modern Science. The Committee itself was instrumental in activating interest in the subject and may be said to have led to the present program in the history and philosophy of science at Cambridge University. In the Pagels moved to London where Walter took a position as Assistant Pathologist (and later Consultant Pathologist) at Central Middlesex Hospital. And in , due to persistent health problems, he moved to a part-time position at Clare Hall Sanatorium in Barnet, retiring at last in . Debus adds: ‘Although his illness kept him housebound in his later years, he always welcomed visiting scholars. Afternoons at the Pagel home were filled with stimulating discussions that remain etched in the memories of those who took part in them’.
AGRICOLA, Johann (–) Ain grüntlicher fleissiger außzug, auß allen bewerten Kriechischen un[d] Lateinischen lerern, dermassen bißher noch nye beschehen. Von ursachen, zaichen, fürserung, und haylung der grewlichen Pestilentz, sampt alle[n] züfellen die sich in diser Kranckhait begeben mögen, Alles auss gütem grund, on all Sophistisch oder Arabisch, in der Artzney ungegründt, züserz un[d] erdichtes geschwertz. Durch Doct. Johan. Agricolã, der Artzney und Kriechischen sprach leser zü Ingolstat. Deren von Eck, zü Wolffs und Randeck Wapen. [Colophon:] Augspurg, Gedruckt durch Philipp Ulhart [no date]. Augsburg: Phillip Ulhart the elder, date taken from dedicatory letter, . to: A–F, leaves, ff. [], [i.e. ]. Gothic letter, large woodcut arms on title. x mm. Cropped affecting last line of titlepage (identifying the arms of the dedicatee), first line of f. and a few folio numbers; library stamps partially erased from title and f. , causing some holes in the latter affecting several letters but without loss of legibility; some light staining and soiling. Binding: Recent quarter cloth over marbled boards, rear endleaves from an earlier binding preserved. Provenance: Early inscription ‘ad Medic. ad Bibl. Karsersh’ and early shelfmarks on title; early manuscript notes in German on original rear endleaves; Walter Pagel’s signature, undated, on pastedown. First edition. A; Durling . A pamphlet describing the outbreak of sweating sickness and the methods of prevention and treatment. Some of the recommendations deal with diet, drink, baths and the use of purgatives. Johann Agricola was professor of Greek and medicine at Ingolstadt and was responsible for important editions of Galen, Hippocrates, Dioscorides and Oribasius.
ALBERTI, Salomon (–) Historia plerarunque [sic] partium humani corporis membratim scripta, et in usum tyronum retractatius edita... [Colophon:] Vitaebergae Excudebant Haeredes Iohannes Cratonis Anno M.D.LXXXV. Wittenberg: Heirs of Johann Krafft the elder, . vo: A–H, I and folding woodcut plates after D, E and F, leaves, pp. [] [] (last page blank), the pagingation including the rectos of the plates, the versos being blank and unpaginated. Roman letter with Italic headings and Greek words in the text. Allegorical woodcut on title, text woodcuts, several full page, and larger woodcuts on the folding plates.
x mm. Small worm holes and tracks almost entirely marginal but just touching one or two letters, light waterstains in the last few leaves only; a good fresh copy. Binding: Recent panelled polished calf. Provenance: No ownership signature but heavily annotated on text and plates in an early hand. Second edition (first Wittenberg ; enlarged and reprinted unchanged , ). A; Adams A; Bird ; Durling ; Manchester ; Waller ; Wellcome ; Choulant–Frank p. ; Cushing p. , ‘Vesaliana’ . An extensively illustrated small format textbook dealing with the anatomy and physiology of different organs and structures in the body. These are shown in somewhat crude, but highly informative woodcuts. This is one of the earliest post-Vesalian illustrated anatomy books published in a small and inexpensive format. In the same year the same publisher produced an edition of Vesalius’ revised version of Winter’s unillustrated Institutiones anatomicae. Salomon Alberti was born in Naumburg on the Saale and moved to Nuremberg with his parents as an infant. He was professor in Wittenberg and electoral body physician from until his death in Dresden in . ‘He was recognised as an industrious anatomist and an independent investigator’ (Choulant–Frank) and is celebrated for having given the first illustrations of the valves in the veins in his Tres orationes (Nuremberg, ). This is a fascinating copy heavily annotated by an early, possibly contemporary, owner who closely studied both the text and the illustrations.
ALBERTUS MAGNUS, (c.–) De animalibus [πr] Divi Alberti Magni de Animalibus libri vigintisex Novissime Impresi. Videbis studiosissime lector hoc in volumine. [ar] Incipit liber Alberti magni animaliu[m] primus qui est de co[m]muni diversitate animaliu[m]. [Colophon on Qv] Impressum Venetiis per Ioannem & Gregorius de Gregoriis fratres. Anno incarnationis dominice Millesimo quadrigentesimo nonagesimo quinto die. xxi. Maii. Regnante d[omi]no Augustino Barbadi co inclito Duce Venetiarum. Venice: Johannes and Gregorius de Gregoriis, de Forlivio, May, . Folio: π a–z & # ? A–P Q, leaves, ff. [] (ff. , , and misnumbered , , and ). Gothic type, lines in double columns, initial spaces with guide letters, πr in Roman type with gothic heading. Large woodcut printer’s device on Qv.
x mm. First page soiled stained and corner chipped, corners rounded in the rest of the book, worm tracks in the lower margins and gutter in the first half of the book, well away from the text; some light waterstains at the beginning and end. Generally a good fresh and clean copy. Binding: Seventeenth-century carta rustica, manuscript lettering on lower page edges and spine. Worn, spine damaged at the foot. Provenance: Three inscriptions on πr: . ‘Sum francisci argilagues de valencia artium et me[dicine] doctoris ragusii meiorensibus conducti physici anno alexandro pontifice maximo vivente’. Franciscus Argilagues (fl. c. –) was the editor of the Articella (Venice ) and Petrus de Abano, Conciliator (Pavia ); . Anno redemptionis legitme fueri in manus et postestate Ambrosii Francisci Malachreido origine Curiensis (Chur, Switzerland); . scored out and illegible. A few words of annotations in Latin and Greek in two hands in the text and a word annotation on f. v; early underliniing and pointing fists in red crayon, mostly confined to ff. –. Third edition (first edition, Rome ; second, Mantua ). There were many later editions. Goff A-; Klebs .; Bod-inc A-; BMC V ; BSB-Ink A-; GW ; ISTC ia; Walsh –; Wellcome . ‘One of the outstanding works of scientific interest written between the time of Pliny and the sixteenth-century’ (Stillwell). Albertus made original observations, conducted experiments and performed dissections. The work is ‘especially noteworthy for its sections on reproduction and embryology’ (DSB). Albertus, regarded as the most learned scholar of his time, is described in Printing and the Mind of Man as ‘the most important observer of nature that the Middle Ages had yet produced, the greatest naturalist since Pliny’. Pagel pointed out that Albertus’ experimental demonstration of fetal irritability foreshadowed that of Harvey (‘William Harvey, fetal irritability – and Albertus Magnus’, Medical History () –, citing f. v of the present edition, which he probably therefore owned by ). He noted in the article: ‘It is not unlikely that Harvey was familiar with Albertus’ text in which comparative embryology was treated on a broad Aristotelian basis, although Albert deviates in some points from the Philosopher’ (p. ). Stillwell ; Printing and the Mind of Man b.
ALBERTUS MAGNUS, (c.–) Parva naturalia [Ar] Tabula tractatuum parvorum naturalium Alberti Magni Episcopi Ratispon. de ordine predicatorum. De sensu et sensato. De memoria et reminiscentia. De somno et vigilia. De motibus animalium. De erate sive de inventute & senectute. De spiritu et respiratione. De morte et vita. De nutrimento et nutribili. De natura et origine anime. De unitate intellectus contra Averroem. De intellectu et intelligibili. De natura
locorum. De causis et proprietatibus elementorum. De passionibus aeris. De Vegetabilibus et plantis. De principiis motus processivi. De causis et processu universitatis a causa prima. Speculu[m] astronomicu[m] de libris licitis et illicitis. [Colophon on ccv] Venetiis: impensa heredu[m] quonda[m] d[omi]ni Octaviani Scoti civis Modoetie[n]sis: ac sociorum. Die. . Martii. . Venice: heirs of Octavianus Scotus, . Folio: A, a–z, &, ?, #, aa-bb, cc (blank cc), leaves, ff. [] [ blank]. Gothic letter in double columns, sizes of woodcut initials, woodcut printer’s device on ccv. x mm. Portion of lower margin of A restored, a few leaves browned, light brown waterstains in upper and lower corners, the lower one into the text and the paper slightly limp due to loss of size. Binding: Recent half vellum. Provenance: About words of annotation in at least two hands, longer notes on ff. v, r, r, r in one hand and several annotations on ff. – in another hand. First edition of this collection of treatises. . De vegetabilibus et plantis, first printed in this edition ‘is a masterpiece for its independence of treatment, its accuracy and range of detailed description, its freedom from myth, and its innovation in systematic classification. His comparative study of plants extended to all their parts, and his digressions show a remarkable sense of morphology and ecology... He seems to have been the first to mention spinach in Western literature, the first to note the influence of light and heat on the growth of trees, and the first to establish that sap (which he knew was carried in veins – like blood vessels, he said, but without a pulse) is tasteless in the root and becomes flavored as it ascends.’ (William A. Wallace, DSB I:–.)
ARISTOTLE. Secreta secretorum Aristotelis [and other works]. [No imprint on title, colophon:] Lugduni impressus in edibus Antonii Bla[n]chard anno d[omi]ni M.D.xxviii. die xxiii. mensis Martii. Lyon: Antoine Blanchard for Louis Martin, . vo: A–K, L (blank L), leaves, ff. [] (last leaf blank). Gothic letter, title within a woodcut border made up of blocks, and -line white on black initials and a fine -line historiated initial ‘F’ on f. showing hares boxing; device of Louis Martin on v. x mm. Moderate browning; a fresh copy. Binding: Contemporary limp vellum, gilt and gauffered edges, no free endleaves, traces of ties, manuscript lettering on top edge and spine. Soiled, upper inner hinge broken. Provenance: No marks of ownership. A few ink lines in the margins and a -word annotation on v.
Second edition of this collection, apparently a reprint of the edition printed at Paris in with the same contents. The ‘Secret of secrets’ was first printed c. . Durling ; Baudrier V, p. . The pseudo-Aristotelian ‘Secreta secretorum’ has been called ‘the most popular book of the middle ages’ and deals with the science of government, astrology, alchemy and, the greater part of the work, hygiene, diet and medicine. It is supposed to have been written by Aristotle as a series of letters addressed to Alexander the Great, but is in reality a compilation of the th century. Numerous manuscripts survive and Thorndike notes that the texts vary considerably but gives no guidance on distinguishing them. The first printed edition (Cologne c. ) is the translation by Philippus Tripolitanus, also used for the present edition (Durling). The Secreta secretorum occupies the first leaves and is followed by six shorter works: Aristotle, ‘De signis aquarus ventorum et tempestatum’; and ‘De mineralibus’; Alexander of Aphrodisias, ‘De intellectu’; Averoes, ‘De beatitudine anime’; Achillini, ‘De universalibus’, and pseudo-Alexander the Great, ‘Ad Aristotelem de mirabilibus Indie’. A delightful copy of an attractively printed book. The subtle elegance of the gilt edged, but otherwise plain binding represents ‘the top end of the laced cased hierarchy (Nicholas Pickwoad, private communication). Antoine Blanchard has used a nice set of blocks for the title border, there is a charming initial F showing hares boxing, some more run-of-the-mill woodcuts and Louis Martin’s device of two unicorns. Blanchard worked exclusively for booksellers, rather than publishing on his own account. A good part of his small output was of medical books, and these were, unless otherwise indicated (as here), printed for Barthélemy Trot, including the two editions of Mundinus, in and .
ARNALDUS DE VILLANOVA (d. ?) Opera Arnaldi de villanova medici acutissimi op[er]a nuperrime revisa: una cum ipsius vita recenter hic apposita. Cu[m]que tractatu de philosophoru[m] lapide. Addtionibus marginalibus tabulaque librorum et capitolorum in hac novissima impressione: diligenter additis. Venundantur lugnuni apud scipionem de gabiano in vico mercuriali sub signo fontis. [Colophon:] Lugd. i[m]ressa in calchographia honesti viri Jacobi myt. Anno domini. M.cccccxxii. die vero. x. mensis Junii. Lyon: Jacob Myt for Scipio de Gabiano, . Folio: AA, BB, a–z & ? # A–N O, leaves, ff. [] . Gothic letter. Title printed in red and black within a woodcut border from a single block and with a woodcut device; , and -line initials; woodcut astrological diagrams on f. v. x mm. Titlepage soiled, light marginal waterstains. A good fresh copy. Binding: Contemporary limp vellum with remains of ties. Soiled and cockled with old repairs to spine and sides.
Provenance: Underlining and marginal marks and about words of contemporary annotation, heaviest in the section on epilepsy, ff. – . ‘Georgius Kloß M. D. Francfurti ad Moenum’, bookplate, probably Georg Franz Burkhard Kloss (–); Sir Francis Palgrave (–), archivist and historian (see ODNB), inscription on title dated October . Later edition, a reprint of the Lyon, edition (first Lyon ). Adams A; Durling ; Baudrier VII, p. ; Gütlingen V, Myt . Arnald’s teaching and writing established the scholastic curriculum at the medical school at Montpellier, the most important centre of medical education in the middle ages. He was principally responsible for the fusion of the Western empirical tradition with the systematic medical philosophy of the Greeks and Arabs. Compared with his predecessors at Montpellier he lectured on a much wider range of Hippocratic and Galenic works. On his advice the Papal bull of September , which regularised medical education at Montpellier, defined a set of fifteen Greek and Arab texts as the basis for future study. At the same time he ‘was evidently committed to experience rather than to theory or to authority.’ (McVaugh). Several of the texts in the Opera are now thought to be apocryphal, including the most famous medical work once attributed to him, the Commentum super regimen sanitatis Salernitanum. The alchemical texts also now appear to be of doubtful authenticity, especially since Arnaldus himself considered alchemists to be ‘ignorant’ and ‘foolish’. Those printed in the Opera are Rosarius philosophorum, Novum lumen, Flos florum, and Epistola super alkimia. All were reprinted in one or more of the great alchemical collections. Arnald’s family may originally have been Provençal, but he himself was Catalan by birth, probably from Valencia. He was a student at Montpellier from about and by had become physician to Peter III of Aragon, and then to his successors, Alfonso III and James II. By Arnald was a medical master at the newly chartered studium generale, but he was repeatedly called back to Spain for professional consultations. The life of Arnaldus prefaced to the Opera is by Symphorien Champier. Michael McVaugh, DSB : –.
ARNALDUS DE VILLANOVA (d. ?) Opera omnia. Cum Nicolai Taurelli medici & philosophi in quosdam libros annotationibus: indice item copiosissimo... Basileae ex officina Pernea per Conradum Waldkirch. M D XXCV. Basle: heirs of Peter Perna for Konrad von Waldkirch, . Folio: ):( a–z A–Z AA–NN OO PP–XX, leaves, ff. [] cols – (i.e. , – omitted), ff. []. Roman letter with Italic headings, text in double columns, Woodcut printer’s device on title, woodcut initials, astrological diagrams in cols –.
x mm. Titlepage soiled and with early inscriptions erased, brown stain on last leaf, some light waterstains at the beginning and end of the volume. A good fresh copy. Binding: Contemporary blind-stamped calf, the sides with foliage panels enclosing vertical strips from rolls with full length personifications of the virtues, brass catches on upper board but straps and hooks lacking. Head and tail of spine chipped, upper joint cracked but cords holding, endleaves sometime replaced. Provenance: Bookplate removed from front pastedown; Drs Th. Ronz, small stamp on verso of title. Occasional underlining and marginal marks and a word or two of annotation. The last complete edition. Earlier editions: Lyon, , , , ; Venice, , . A ; Adams A; Bird ; Durling ; Manchester ; Wellcome . A handsome copy of the most complete edition of the Opera and, in the absence of a modern scholarly edition, still the standard edition of Arnald’s works. Only one tract is not included, De conservatione visus, not published until (in Collectio ophthalmologica veterum auctorum, I, Paris, , –).
ARTICELLA Articella nuperrime impressa cu[m] quamplurimis tractatibus pristine impressio[n]i superadditis: ut patet i[dest] pagina seque[s]ti. Petri pomarii Valentini hispani ad lector[e]m hexastycho[n]... [Colophon:] Imp[re]ssum Lugduni per Antoniu[m] du Ry. Impe[n]sis domino honesti viri Jacobi q[uondam] Fra[n]cisci de Giuncta Florentini: ac socioru[m]. Anno d[omi]ni. Mcccccxxv. die.xv.Maii. Lyon: Antoine du Ry for Jacques Giunta, . vo: a–z, &, ?, #, A–U, leaves, ff. ccclxx (i.e. xxxlxviii, cclxv and cclxvi omitted). Gothic letter in double columns, title printed in red and black within a woodcut border, woodcut initials, printer’s device on verso of last leaf, diagrams on f. cclxxiii verso and a full page woodcut on f. ccclxvi recto. x mm. Titlepage and last leaf very worn and frayed and strengthened with tissue; worm tracks in the inner margins touching a few letters, a few headlines shaved, waterstained, paper brittle. Binding: Nineteenth-century vellum boards. Provenance: Contemporary inscription in Greek on title. words of annotation in Latin on ff. clxxvii-viii and on f. cccxxi. Later edition (first ). Seventeen editions were printed before the end of . Durling notes that the contents of this edition are the same as the Lyon editions of and . Durling ; Baudrier VI, pp. –. The Articella is a collection of ancient and medieval medical treatises, including the Isagoge Ioannitii ad Tegni Galieni, based on Galen’s ‘Art of
healing’ by the Baghdad physician and polyglot H . unayn ibn Is.ha¯q (d. c. ), and works by al-Maju¯sı¯ (Haly Abbas), Ibn Sı¯na¯ (Avicenna), Hippocrates, Celsus, Arnaldus de Villanova and others.
AVERROËS – IBN RUSHD (–) Colliget Averoys Medici ut acutissima ita presta[n]tissimi, cum marginariis adnotationibus dilige[n]tissima (ubi congruere visum est) additis Adiecta est et tabula rerum scitu necessariarum in prinipio operis quo que scire volueris tibi facilius occurra[n]t. . Venundantur Lug. ab Jacobo de Giunti. [Colophon:] Excudebat Lugduni Joan[n]es Crispin dictus du Carre mandante honestissimo viro Jacobo de Giunti. . mense Mayo. Lyon: Jean Crespin for Jacques Giunta, . vo: A–Y, leaves, ff. [] []. Gothic letter in double columns. Title printed in red and black within a woodcut border, woodcut initials, printer’s device on verso of last leaf, otherwise blank. x mm. Inscription partially erased from title damaging woodcut border; wormholes in title and first leaf repaired affecting a word on the title and words in the index on the following three pages. Light browning but apart from the title leaf a good fresh copy. Binding: Recent vellum. Provenance: Early inscription on title partially erased leaving the word ‘Bibliothec’. Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. Later edition (first Ferrara, ), issued as the second part of Avenzoar, Geminum de medica facultate opus. Part II only of Durling ; Baudrier VI, pp. –; Gültlingen VI, Crespin, . Ibn Rushd’s major work in medicine, Kita¯b al-Kullı¯ ya¯t, ‘Book of General Principals’. It is divided into seven books, on Anatomy, Health, Sickness, Symptoms, Drugs and Foods, Hygiene, and Therapy. The Latin translation was made in Padua in by Bonacosa and first printed at Venice in and frequently reprinted. In the Colliget, Ibn Rushd was the first to attribute photoreceptor properties to the retina. He was also one of the first to depart from the Greek emanation theory of vision in which rays passed from the eye to the object and back again (Albert, Norton and Huertes p.). This edition was issued with a work by Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar). It has its own titlepage (utilising the same woodcut border) with imprint and date, so could have been issued independently. The partially erased inscription on the titlepage of this copy seems to suggest this, but on the other hand the majority of copies in libraries are bound with the Ibn Zuhr.
BARTHOLOMAEUS ANGLICUS, (th century) De proprietatibus rerum [πr] Liber de proprietatib[us] reru[m] Bartholomei anglici. [*r] Incipiu[n]t tituli librorum et capitulorum venerabilis Bartholomei anglici de proprietatibus rerum. [Rv] Explicit liber de proprietatibus reru[m] editus a fratre Bartholomeo anglico ordinis fratrum minorum. Impressus Argentine Anno d[omi]ni. M.cccc.xci. Finitus altera die post sestum sancti Laurenii martyris. Strasbourg: printer of the Jordanus de Quedlinburg (Georg Husner), August, . Folio: π a–b c–d e f–g h i–k l m n o p–z A–R (–R blank), of unnumbered leaves. Gothic letter, lines in double columns. Initial spaces with guide letters except for the larger initial spaces on ar and ar which are blank (cf. Bod-inc B- ‘Woodcut initials’, but this is an error). x mm. Blank lower margin of second leaf (mm) cut away and restored with old paper; a few headlines shaved. Some leaves browned and foxed and some isolated waterstains. A reasonably fresh copy. Binding: Recent vellum boards. Provenance: A few words of contemporary annotation and marginal marks in ink and red chalk. Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. Later edition (first, Basle, ). ISTC IB.; Goff B-; Klebs .; Walsh – ; Bod-inc B-; BMC I ; BSB-Ink B-; GW ; Ritter . Ostensibly written ‘for the plain people’ (simplices et rudes), Bartholomew’s encyclopaedia was adopted as a university text book and was enormously popular for three centuries. Comprehensive and methodical though it was, Sarton concluded that ‘on the whole it represented a state of knowledge which was already superseded’. On the other hand ‘Bartholomew had a genuine taste for natural history... his descriptions of plants and animals contain original touches which are exceedingly delightful. His herbal was by far the most notable work of its kind writen by an Englishman in the Middle Ages. The political geography of Europe contains a quantity of information which had not been put together before’. Bartholomew was born in England though his parentage is obscure and probably studied at Oxford, perhaps with Grosseteste. He became a Franciscan and taught at Paris and Magdeburg. Pagel cites Bartholemew (giving the page reference to this edition which he must have owned at the time) in discussing the etymology of the Latin cor, heart, which Harvey derrived from currere, runs, but which Bartholomew derived from cura, care (William Harvey’s Biological Ideas, p. ). Sarton II, pp. –.
BARTHOLOMAEUS ANGLICUS, (th century) Le grand proprietaire de toutes choses. Tresutile et profitable pour tenir le corps humain en santé. Contenant plusieurs diverses maladies, & dont ilz procedent, & aussi les remedes preservatifz. Avec les proprietez du ciel, de la terre, des bestes, des oyseaulx, des pierres, & des metaulx, & autre matiere moult bonne pour toute personne qui à voluntà sçavoir diverses choses. Translaté de Latin en François, par maistre Jean Corbichon, *Additions nouvellement faictes. Les vertus & proprietez des eaues artificielles, & des herbes. Les Nativitez des hommes & des femmes, solon les douze signes, & plusieurs receptes contre aucunes maladies. Remede moult utile & profitable contre fiebure pestilecieuse & autre maniere d’epidimie, aprouvé par plusieurs docteurs en medecine. A Paris. Par Loys de Banville, tenant sa bouticque en la grand Salle du Palays, pres la Chappelle de messieurs les Presidens. . Paris: Louis de Banville, . Folio: a A–Z AA–PP OO, leaves, ff. [] ccxxiv. Roman letter in double columns, woodcut initials, device on title and woodcuts on leaves, some with decorative borders from separate blocks. x mm. Ruled in red throughout. Titlepage soiled, overall very light browning. A good fresh copy. Binding: Eighteenth-century mottled calf, gilt spine. Head and tail of spine chipped, joints cracked but cords holding, corners worn. Provenance: Two early signatures washed out on titlepage but almost legible, one could be ‘Jonbert’. The last French edition (first French, Lyon, ). A title page variant has the imprint of Estienne Grouleau. Cf ; . This edition is illustrated by a series of old-fashioned woodcuts, many presumably from Hortus sanitatis editions of a generation earlier. As in previous editions there is a dissection scene, this one printed from a block first used in a French edition of Mundinus, Anatomie de Mondini Paris, A. Lotrian and D. Janot, (Wolf-Heidegger no. ). Gerhard Wolf-Heidegger, Die anatomische Sektion in bildlicher Darstellung ().
BEDE, the Venerable, Saint (–) De natura rerum et temporum ratione libri duo. Nunc recens inventi, & in lucem editi. Gustum quendam, humanissime lector, habes operum Bedae, eorum quae antea no extabant, quem si probabis, efficies ut primum tomum desideratum hactenus, à nobis vero nuper è situ prolatum, simus quaque prima occasione edituri. Basileae excudebat Henricus Petri mense martio, An: M. D. XXIX. Cum gratia & privilegio Caesareo. Basle: Heinrich Petri, .
Folio: α–β γ a–l m, leaves, ff. [] . Roman letter. Woodcut initials and a headpiece on f. . x mm. Title lightly dustsoiled, marginal repair to blank margin of last leaf. A fresh clean copy. Binding: Recent half morocco. Provenance: No marks of provenance, a few nineteenth-century pencil annotations. First edition. This recension was not reprinted, all later editions deriving from different manuscript sources. B; Adams B. The first scientific works by an Englishman. This edition comprises the editio princeps of Bede’s three authentic scientific works: De natura rerum, De temporibus and De temporum ratione. Many other computistical and scientific works have been ascribed to Bede but these three are the only complete works of undoubted authenticity. De natura rerum deals with natural phenomena, including Bede’s statement that the earth is a sphere and explainations of the changing length of the day and the appearance of the moon. The first chapter, ‘De computu vel loquela digitorum’, is the main, and almost the only, source for the study of mediaeval finger reckoning or symbolism. The work is based on Isidore of Seville, but Bede ‘was the most synthetic mind of that time, and his acquaintance with Pliny enabled him to go far beyond Isidore of Seville’ (Sarton). De tempore provides an introduction to the principles of calculating the date of Easter and De tempore ratione contains the first formulation of a perpetual cycle of Easters based on the Metonic nineteen-year lunar cycle. It is in this work too that Bede established the convention that governs our everyday lives: the custom of counting the years from the birth of Christ. And it contains his important theory of tides, based on Pliny but advanced by personal observation. Bede understood that the tides are governed by the phases of the moon, and was the first to state the tidal principle of ‘establishment of port,’ the principle that high tide follows the moon’s meridian passage at a certain interval, and that this interval is different at different ports. This most essential principle for coastal navigation has been described as the only original formulation of nature made in the West for eight centuries. Bede was born in or near Jarrow, county Durham, entered the Benedictine monastery at Wearmouth and transferred to the sister house of Jarrow. He remained there for the rest of his life and apparently never travelled more than fifty miles from his monastery. Bede’s Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, for which he is known as the father of British history, first published at Strasbourg in , was one of the first historical books to be printed. Adelard of Bath (c.–c.) is traditionally called ‘The first English scientist’ but Bede would seem to have a prior claim. Sarton named the first half of the eighth century ‘The time of Bede’ and he is the first Englishman to have an entry in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography. The editor of this edition was John Sichardus, a humanist scholar at Basle who was responsible for the first printed editions of many classic texts. In his study of Bede’s scientific works, both authentic and spurius, Jones comments on this edition as follows. ‘Sichardus’ edition is beautifully printed; it is apparently scarce, for I have not seen a copy in America, and it is seldom mentioned by those who comment upon Bede’s works. The texts were
probably taken from a single manuscript. That of the long work, De Temporum Ratione, belongs to a family represented by Paris MS., Theol. Q. (saec. xii, from Chomberg): and Munich MS., (seac. xi, from Tegernsee). This family of manuscripts is especially marked by the omission of DTR, Ch. XV (‘De Mensibus Anglorum’). The omission of the chapter in Sichardus’ text indicates that he did not compare manuscripts.’ (Jones p. .) Sarton I, pp. –; Charles Williams Jones, Bedae pseudepigrapha: scientific writings falsely attributed to Bede () pp. –; Ibid, DSB I, pp. –.
BEGARDI, Philippus Index sanitatis: Eyn schöns und vast nützlichs Büchlin, gen[n]t Zeyger der gesundtheyt, Den jhenen, so kranck seind, vnd nit wissens haben, wie, wo vn[d] mit was massen sie widerumb bekommen mögen vnd erlange[n] recht volkommende gesundtheyt zu trost gemacht und an[d] tag geben. Durch Philippum Begardi der Freien kunst vn[d] Artznei Doctorem, der zeit der Löblichen Keyserlichen Reichstatt Wormbs Physicum vnd Leibartzet. Zu Wrombs truckts Sebastianus Wagner. [no date on titlepage, colophon]... M. D. xxxix. Den xx. tag des Augsmonats. Worms: Sebastian Wagner, . Folio: ♣ A–L, leaves, ff. [] XLIIII. Gothic letter. Large wooodcut on title, and line white on black initials. x mm. Small wormholes in corners and margins and a few large holes through the text towards the end; marginal waterstaining, first and last leaves soiled, page edges frayed towards the end. Still a reasonably fresh and clean copy. Binding: Recent panelled calf, red painted and gauffered edges from a former binding. Provenance: From the gauffering it appears that this work was formerly bound with, or formed a companion to, nos , and . Inscription on verso of title ‘Warowpka Jar R Maker’. About words of early annotation and NBs in the margins. First edition. B. This popular guide to health is an important source for the historical Dr Faustus. Begardi, City Physician of Worms, says he knows a number of people duped by Faust, an arrogant swindler who boasted great skill in medicine and referred to himself as another Paracelsus. He mentions Faust as a man who was well known, but of whom nothing had been heard lately. The vivid title woodcut ( x mm) is a medical scene showing the male patient on a bed attended by two women and a young physician. The text contains some fine white on black woodcut initials decorated with stylised plant forms.
BERENGARIO DA CARPI, Jacopo (c. –) Isagog[a]e Breves, perlucide ac uberrime, in anatomia[m] humani corporis, a, com[m]uni medicoru[m] academia usitat[a], a, Carpo in almo gymnasio ordinaria[m] chirurgie publice docente, ad suo[rum] scholasticoru[m] p[re]ces in lucem date... Nicolaus Bargilius Bonon. dissecuit varios hominem Mundinus in artus subiciens cupidis qu[ae]q[ue] videnda oculis. Mundinum at melior divisit Carpus: & auxit: ne foret, alcerutru[m] qui sibi forte paret. Idem. In Carpo seri discent tua scripta ne potes h[a]ec Mundine charta loquentur anus. [Colophon] Anno Virginei partus. M.D.XXII. Sub die. xxx. Dece[m]bris. Imp[re]ssum Bononi[a]e p[er] Benedictu[m] Hectoris bibliopola[m] Bonon[um]. Bologna: Benedetto Faelli, . to: A–I, ff. . Roman letter, title within a criblé woodcut border, initial spaces with guide letters, printer’s device on fr. large and smaller anatomical woodcuts. x mm. Titlepage soiled and bound tight obscuring some of the border at the inner margin; heavy soiling to lower outer margins and extensive repairs to blank margins of sigs A–E and I (all the leaves that contain illustrations), tears in B extending into the printed captions of two illustrations and in I and I into the captions and woodcuts of three illustrations, all without loss, a few letters lost on f. r; a few small worm holes, some filled, one affecting the printer’s device on the last leaf. Binding: Re-sewn and re-cased in seventeenth-century carta rustica; no free endleaves. Provenance: ‘Franciscus Justinie[?]’, signature, partially erased, on titlepage. Pen trials on f. v and f. r, some colour added to the illustration on f. . First edition. A second edition, slightly enlarged, was issued by Faelli in , followed by reprints, Strasbourg, and Venice . Putti pp. –; ; Wellcome ; Garrison–Morton ; Norman ; Waller . This famous work introduced several innovations in anatomy and anatomical illustration and is among the most important precursors of Vesalius. ‘Berengario was the author of the first [anatomical] illustrations made from nature. His innate feeling for the graphic arts seems to have aided him considerably in his first attempts’ (Choulant p. ). Several of Berengario’s illustrations, such as those of the veins on f. r, show the influence of Leonardo (Herlinger p. ). This set of anatomical illustrations is by far the most extensive that had appeared up to this time. The male skeleton and muscle figures are displayed against landscape backgrounds in the way that would be followed by Estienne and Vesalius. The female figures are equally striking and, in contrast to the male figures, are
revealed in bedrooms, or holding sheets (or shrouds?) behind themselves. Both the situation and the poses of the figures giving them an erotic charge; they are modelled on works of art and inspired Estienne’s female figures, but not those of Vesalius. As Talvacchia remarks ‘artistic conventions for the display of the eroticized female body shared those developed for the demonstration of female sexual organs’ (Talvacchia pp. –). The last five woodcuts seem to have been intended for artists. The Isagogae breves is a condensed version of Berengario’s Commentaria on Mondino’s anatomy () and uses many of the same woodcuts, but with significant revisions and additions. The Commentaria was printed at Bologna by Girolamo de Benedetto whom Choulant suggests may have cut the blocks. Three of the woodcuts which Choulant says were intended for artists are omitted, but the illustration of two uteri on f. r is new, as is the muscleman on f.r. The second edition, printed in the following year, added three more anatomical woodcuts and revisions to other woodcuts. Garrison–Morton notes that this work includes a description of the valves of the heart and Pagel discusses Berengario’s views on the disputed septum of the heart in the Commentaria (William Harvey’s Biological Ideas, p. ). Though he does not mention the Isagogae specifically he would no doubt have been interested in what Berengario says here about the veins and the heart. Berengario was born in Carpi, near Modena, the son of a surgeon. He took is MD at Bologna and taught surgery first at Pavia, then at Bologna. After he was in Ferrara and Rome where he was the first to use mercury in the treatment of syphilis and thereby earned a large fortune. He was regarded by Benvenuto Cellini as ‘a great connoisseur in the arts of design’ (quoted by Choulant, p. ). Vittorio Putti, Berengario da Carpi; saggio biografico e bibliografico, seguito dalla traduzione del “De fractura calvae sive cranei” (); Ludwig Choulant, trs and annotated by Mortimer Frank, History and Bibliography of Anatomic Illustration () pp. –; Robert Herrlinger, History of medical illustration (), pp. – ; Bette Talvacchia, Taking Positions. On the Erotic in Renaissance Culture ().
BERENGARIO DA CARPI, Jacopo (c. –) Isagogae breves et exactissimae in anatomiam humani corporis, per illustrem medicum Carpum, in inclito Bononie[n]si gymnasio, ordinariu[m] chyrurgiae professorem. Strasbourg: Heinrich Sybold (printer and date from dedicatory letter), . vo: A–R, leaves unpaginated. Roman letter. -line historiated initial on A. woodcut illustrations, mostly full page. x mm. A fresh clean copy. Binding: Contemporary calf, blind roll-stamped sides. Joints and corners repaired, new endleaves, worn. Provenance: Several early inscriptions on titlepage scored out and names illegible; bookplate removed from pastedown; words of contemporary annotation.
Third edition. Putti pp. –; B ; Benzing ; Muller p. , Sybold ; Ritter IV, ; Bird ; Durling ; Manchester ; Waller . ‘This edition contains the illustrations of the edition of , but besides these a group of splanchological illustrations, viz., four of the heart, two of the brain, and myological representations different from those in the previous edition... Since, however, this edition was not prepared by Berengario himself, and since such illustrations are not found in the edition of Venice , it seems doubtful whether they are his at all’ (Choulant–Frank p. ). This is presumably a piracy, with surprisingly crude and amateurish reduced copies of the original woodcuts. Surprising because Heinrich Sybold was a good printer, though his other publications are unillustrated. A physician as well as a printer, Sybold’s output was small, mostly in the years and , and mostly of Italian medical writers. He printed at least six works by Giorgio Valla, who had died in , the two books by Bonacciuoli offered below (nos and ), and this Berengario. Ludwig Choulant, trs and annotated by Mortimer Frank, History and Bibliography of Anatomic Illustration () pp. –.
BODENSTEIN, Adam von (–) Herrlicher philosophischer Rhatschlag zu curirn Pestile[n]tz, Brustgeschwer, Carfunckl: dardurch auch andere gyfft, so in speiß oder tranck ein genommen, außgetriben mögen werden, sampt gyfftiger thieren biss, alß rasender hunden und schlangen... M.D. LXXVII. Basle: No imprint or colophon, attributed to Peter Perna by VD, . vo: A–C, leaves, pp. [] . Gothic letter, combined with Roman and Italic on title and in prelims, woodcut initial on A. x mm. Light foxing, tiny wormholes in lower margin, well away from the text. A fresh copy. Binding: Recent polished calf. Provenance: words of contemporary annotation. First edition. ZV; Durling . A short treatise on the plague. There is no name in the imprint but the publication is attributed to Peter Perna who had published Bodenstein’s Onomasticon Theophrasti Paracelsi two years earlier in . An ardent disciple of Paracelsus, Bodenstein was responsible for editing many of the works of his master that began to pour out after his death. Bodenstein and Michael Schütz (known as Toxites) had been given Paracelsus’ manuscripts by the Greek scholar and publisher Johannes Oporinus (–) who had been Paracelsus’ pupil and apprentice (Pagel, Paracelsus , pp. and –).
BODIN, Jean (–) Universae naturae theatrum. In quo rerum omnium effectrices causae, & fines contemplantur, & continuae series quinque libris discutiuntur... Francofurti, apud heredes Andreae Wecheli, Claudium Marnium and Ioan. Aubr. M.D.XCVII. Frankfurt: Claude Marne and Johann Aubry, Heirs of Andreas Wechel, . vo: ):( A–Q R, leaves, pp. [] (i.e. , pp. – omitted) [] (last page blank). Roman letter, woodcut device on title, woodcut initials. woodcut diagrams in the text. xmm. Blank corner of A torn away, waterstains on first and last two leaves. A good clean and fresh copy. Binding: Contemporary stiff vellum with yapp edges, blind ruled sides, remains of linen ties, green edges. A little cockled and stained but a well preserved binding. Provenance: No owner’s name or annotation. Second edition (first edition, Lyon ). Another edition was printed at Hanau in ; French translation . B; Adams B. An enclyclopedia of natural philosophy, covering the whole of the natural world and the celestial bodies. Intended for a scholarly, but non-specialist audience, Ann Blair’s extensive study of the work demonstrates its importance for our understanding of the general level of scientific knowledge in the late renaissance. The work had some success, with three Latin editions, a French translation, and German paraphrases, but it lagged behind works such as Cardano’s De varietate. Blair gives a survey of extant copies in her chapter on ‘The Reception of the Theatrum’, tabulating altogether copies of the four editions. Most are bound singly, but copies survive bound with other works, and she analyses these, as well as other aspects of the distribution and ownership of the surviving copies. Blair’s work, probably the most detailed study of a work of general science of the renaissance, makes Bodin’s book especially valuable for understanding the state of knowledge in the period following the publication of the canonical works of Copernicus, Fuchs and Vesalius. The ‘Theatrum’ was the last work of John Bodin, lawyer and political thinker, famous for Les six livres de la republique (Paris, ), the foundation of modern political science. Ann Blair, The Theater of Nature: Jean Bodin and Renaissance Science ().
BONACCIUOLI, Luigi (d. c. ) De conceptionis indiciis, nec non maris foemineiq[ue] partus significatione. Eiusdem. Quae utero gravibus accidant. Et eorum medicinae. Prognostica causae[qua] effluxionum & abortuum. C[um] proceritatis i[m]proceritatisq[um] partuum causae. [Gv:] Argentin[a]e per henricum Sybold. Strasbourg: Heinrich Sybold (signed foreword but no imprint or date), . vo: A–H, unnumbered leaves, verso of last leaf blank. Roman letter, white on black woodcut initials. x mm. A little dustsoiling, a few light stains, a good large and fresh copy. Binding: Nineteenth-century marbled boards, spine defective. Provenance: Early inscription on title, undeciphered. First edition. Older catalogues give the date as or but Ritter’s date of is now accepted. B; Adams ; Benzing ; Muller p. , Sybold ; Ritter IV, ; Durling ; Wellcome . A treatise on the signs of conception, abortion and obstetrics. It is one of several gynaecological works by Bonacciuoli. His best known work Enneas muliebris a, sex manual written for Lucrezia Borgia, was first printed in and reprinted in Wolf and Spach, Gynaeciorum () and again in Pineau, De virginitatis notis (). There is a brief foreword by Sybold, and at the end of Bonacciuoli’s work is printed Aristotle, De indiciis quibus maris a foeminae generatione generatio discernatur. Bonacciuoli (or Buonaccioli in some sources) was professer of medicine at Ferrara from sometime at the end of the fifteenth century. O’Dowd and Philipp note that ‘Bonacciuoli gave detailed descriptions of the mons veneris, clitoris and hymen,’ presumably this is in Enneas muliebris, but no source is given (Michael J. O’Dowd and Elliot E. Philipp, The history of obstetrics and gynaecology () p. ).
BONACCIUOLI, Luigi (d. c. ) De uteri partiumq[ue] eius consectione. Eiusdem. Quonam usu in abse[n]tibus etiamnum Venus citetur. Quid, quale, undeq[ue] prolificum semen, unde me[n]strua [et]c. [Colophon:] Argentinae per Henricum Sybold. Mense Decembri. Strasbourg: Heinrich Sybold, ? vo: A–I, unnumbered leaves. Roman letter. -line historiated initial on Ar and one smaller white on black woodcut initial. x mm. Ar poorly inked with some loss of legibility in last few
lines; light waterstains in the lower and inner margins, faint browning. A good fresh copy. Binding: Early eighteenth-century French polished calf, gilt spine. Joints cracked, head and tail of spine chipped, corners worn. Provenance: Old shelf mark on pastedown. First edition. Durling ; ZV . Printed after Bonacciuoli’s work is Aristotele, De signis quae puerorum seminis emissionem, puellarumque viri potentiam preveniunt.
BRISSOT, Pierre (–) Apologetica disceptatio, qua docetur per quae loca sanguis mitti debeat in visceru[m] inflammationibus, pr[a]esertim in pleuritude. Paris ex officina Simonis Colinaei. M. D. XXV. Paris: Simon de Colines, . vo: a–i k (blank k), unnumbered leaves. Roman letter. -line criblé initials on ar, ar and av and a -line initial on a; woodcut diagrams in the margins of b and e and a half-page illustration on f. x mm. Marginal diagrams shaved; lower blank margin of k cut away with loss of signature only; light waterstains on a few leaves; a good fresh copy. Binding: Seventeenth-century English unlettered sheep, upper joint repaired, last gathering sprung. Provenance: Underlining and annotation in an early hand in Latin and Greek on about pages, some annotations cropped; Walter Pagel’s undated signature on pastedown. First edition. Later editions, Basle , , ; Venice ; Paris . Durling ; Renouard, Colines p. ; Cushing Vesaliana no. . Brissot aroused controversy by his practice of letting blood close to the affected area, in opposition to the accepted wisdom of the time of letting blood away from the affected area. The method was taken up by Vesalius in his ‘Venesection epistle’ (), important for the way he used his anatomical knowledge to justify a clinical procedure. Brissot’s treatise was written in response to a violent attack on his method, but he died just as he was about to publish it and it did not appear until three years later with a preface by Antoine Lucens. The dispute continued after his death between Leonhard Fuchs, André Thurin and Mathieu Curtius. Brissot was born at Fontenay-le-Comte and studied medicine at Paris. He was a passionate advocate first of Arabic medicine, then of the Greek origins of Arabic medicine. His love of botany took him to Portugal, where he spent much time, and intended to go to America but stopped at Ebora where he died. Pagel was interested in the book for Brissot’s description of the smallest visible blood vessels and discusses it in his work on William Harvey as follows. ‘Much attention has been given to the use of [the term Capillamenta] by Cesalpinus, by those who accorded as well as those who denied him the laurels
of priority. Harvey too used the term. However, neither the latter nor Cesalpinus were original in doing so. Galen had spoken of synanastomoses. He had distinguished between small spider-like vessels (mikrai arachnoeides) and hair-like (trichoeides) vessels. Not long before Cesalpinus, Peter Brissot (–) speaks in his famous treatise on blood letting of the smallest veins which are disseminated through the body like hair (quae capillamentorum modo per corpora disseminantur).’ (Pagel, William Harvey’s Biological Ideas, , p. .)
BRUNO, Giordano (–) De umbris idearum. Implicantibus artem, quaerendi, inveniendi, iudicandi, ordinandi, & applicandi: ad internam scripturam, & non vulgares per memoriam operationes explicatis... Parisiis, apud aegidium Gorbinum, sub insigne spei, è regione gymnasii Cameracensis. M. D. LXXXII. Cum privilegio regis. Paris: Giles Gorbin, . vo: *, a, e, i, o, u, a–k (blank u), leaves, ff [], . Roman and Italic letter, woodcut head and tailpieces and text illustrations. x mm. A little very light soiling and paper discolouration, marginal waterstains on a few leaves. A fine fresh and only lightly pressed copy. Binding: Eighteenth-century crimson morocco, triple gilt filet borders to sides, flat gilt spine with green morocco lettering piece, blue pastepaper endleaves, gilt edges. A trifle rubbed. Provenance: Early signatures on titlepage ‘Ex libris g. Mascolti’ and ‘Ex libriae Johannes Massolaei’; Richard Heber (–) English bookcollector, small bookstamp on free endleaf; Duke of Hamilton, engraved armorial bookplate; Walter Pagel’s signature dated . First edition. Adams B; Salvestrini ; Sturlese . Bruno’s first book and one of his major works on the art of memory. It presents a complex system integrating mnemonics, psychology and Hermetic magic. The transformation of the art of memory into magical practices forms the basis of the long accepted reading of the text by Frances Yates. However more recent analysis of the book shows that Bruno’s memory images work as systems of logical communication. In this view, the memory images used by Bruno form systems of logical connection and communication. This interpretation seems to be supported by Bruno’s statement at his trial. When the French King, Henri III, to whom the work is dedicated, asked Bruno if his memory techniques worked by magic or by art (scienza), he replied that he could demonstrate that they worked by art. In his memory system Bruno used the signs of the zodiac and Lullian memory wheels composed of numbers and letters from ancient alphabets. Their meaning has been much discussed. Were these constructed to contain magic energies and powers that the Magus could manipulate; or are they calculatory tables, used in the formation of words or phrases linked to images
designed to help memorise them? Such opposing views demonstrate the extraordinary vitality of Bruno’s text, a text that has inspired and frustrated commentators for centuries. In this early work the key elements of Bruno’s world view are already apparent: an infinite universe composed of constantly moving atoms; and the sun at the centre of the universe. Bruno was certainly familiar with the work of Copernicus during his time in Paris, where De umbris idearum was written and published, and probably earlier as a copy of De revolutionibus (nd edition, ) with the signature ‘Brunus Fr[ater] D[ominicus]’ is fairly well authenticated as Bruno’s own copy (Gingerich, Annotated Census no. II.). Heliocentrism is in the present work discussed in mystical and Hermetic terms; Bruno’s full discussion of Copernicanism is in his De cena de le ceneri (London, ). Bruno was born in Nola, a small town near Naples, and at the age of entered the Dominican order there. In the monastery of San Dominico he was trained in scholastic philosophy and became proficient in the art of memory, for which the Dominicans were noted. Early on he formed a belief in the pseudo-Egyptian religion described in the texts supposed to have been written by Hermes Trismegistus. This religion he believed to be older than Judaism or Christianity, and to have been suppressed by these inferior religions. Once these heretical views became known Bruno had to leave Naples and begin his wandering life, including time spent in France, England and in Germany. He returned to Italy in mistakenly believing that he would be well received, but he was almost immediately arrested. He was tried for heresy, first in Venice, where he recanted, and then in Rome, where his trial dragged on for years. He finally refused to recant any of his views and was burnt at the stake in February . A full analysis of Frances Yates’ interpretation of De umbris idearum and the more ‘scientific’ reading of Rita Sturlese is given by Hilary Gatti, Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science (), especially pp. and –. Virgilio Salvestrini and Luigi Firpo, Bibliografia delle opera di Giordano Bruno (nd edition, ); Rita Sturlese, Bibliografia, censimento e storia delle antiche stampe di Giordano Bruno (Florence, ).
BRUNO, Giordano (–) De imaginum, signorum, et idearum compositione. Ad omnia inventionum, dispositionum, & memoriae genera libri tres... Francofurti apud Iaon. Wechelum et Petrum Fischerum consortes. . Frankfurt: Johann Wechel and Peter Fischer, . vo: (:), AA–NN, OO (blank OO), leaves, pp. [], [i.e. ], [] (last pages blank). Roman and Italic letter. Woodcut device on title and woodcut text illustrations, typographic diagrams and tables in the text. [bound with:]
De triplici minimo et mensura ad trium speculativarum scientiarum & multarum activarum artium principia, libri V... Francofurti apud Ioannem Wechelum et Petrum Fischerum consortes, MDLXXXXI. Frankfurt: Johann Wechel and Peter Fischer, . vo: a, A–N, O P, leaves, pp. [], , []. Roman and Italic letter, woodcut printer’s device on title, woodcut headpieces and initials and text illustrations. x mm. Very light paper discolouration, fine fresh copies. Binding: Two works bound together in nineteenth-century burgundy morocco, gilt edges. A trifle rubbed. Provenance: Duke of Hamilton, armorial bookplate; Walter Pagel’s signature dated . First editions. I: B; Adams B; Salvestrini ; Sturlese . II: B; Adams B; Salvestrini ; Sturlese . These two works published in are complementary, though apparently different in subject matter. De imaginum is Bruno’s last work, and is on the art of memory, the subject with which he began his publishing career twenty years earlier with De umbris idearum. De triplici minimo et mensura is a work on the foundations of mathematics. As the title announces, this deals with the minimum, the maximum and measuring. It is ‘the work in which Bruno brought to completion his reflection on the mathematics of his time by linking it inextricably to the definition of his atomism... It takes into consideration simple objects: the elements considered are limits, the minimum, size, founded on the straight line, the angle, and the triangle. The ultimate demonstrations of these elements are the temples of Apollo, Minerva, and Venus, formed by touching, intersecting, and circumscribing circles. In all these temples all figures, numbers, and measures are implicit, represented, and explicit in virtue of the definitions, axioms, and theories they embody’ (Gatti p. ). These mathematical entities are not, however, consonant with the concept of mathematical entities having a direct relationship with the natural world that would develop in the seventeenth century. Indeed Gatti goes so far as to say that Bruno’s mathematics has more in common with concepts of measurement in twentieth-century quantum mechanics. ‘In the De triplici minimo Bruno investigates the possibility that numbers and Euclidean geometry can act as the mnemonics required to reveal the nature of finite bodies composed of atomic minimums in a universe of infinite space. Then, at the very end of the book, he seems to lose faith in number as a tool for determining quantity... Bruno finishes the De triplici minimo by considering the possibility of forming symbolic reference systems not out of numbers but of letters. Bruno was not thinking of an algebra... but rather... the creation of a new symbolic language comparable to that of mathematics’ (Gatti p. ). Bruno developed just such a symbolic language in his works on the art of memory, on which De imaginum is his last word. The importance of De imaginum was recognised by Hegel as an attempt to offer a scientific treatment of the mental image in terms of the complex functioning of the mind in time and space. ‘The De imaginum starts with a theoretical investigation of images in the mind which, as Bruno himself
admits, treats the problem as already elaborated in the early De umbris idearum... Bruno goes on to attempt to give an account of how various types and classes of images are formulated in the mind, to discover the unifying criteria that underlie them, and to demonstrate the ways in which an art of memory can be established to remember and manipulate letters and words. A notable aspect of his treatment of the theme of images is the idea that language is fundamentally coexistent with the presence of images in the mind.’ (Gatti pp. –). Bruno believed that imagery arises out of a collective unconscious. In De imaginum he investigates the ancient and traditional sources of imagery, dealing particularly with the imagery of astrology. For detailed analyses of these two books, see Hilary Gatti’s linked chapters, ‘Epistemology I: Bruno’s Mathematics’; and ‘Epistemology II: Picture Logic’, in Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science (), chapter and , pp. –; –.
BRUNO, Giordano (–) De monade numero et figura consequens quinque de minimo magno & mensura. Item de innumerabilibus, immenso, & infigurabili; seu de universo & mundis libri octo... Francofurti, apud Joan. Wechelum & Petrum Fischerum consortes. Frankfurt: Johann Wechel and Peter Fischer, . vo: ):( * A–S, leaves, pp. [] [] (last page blank). Roman and Italic letter, woodcut head and tail-pieces and initials, woodcut illustrations and a few diagrams and tables made up of rules and type. x mm. , *–, , . Corners rounded, page edges browned, intermittent foxing and some staining. Binding: Recent half calf. Provenance: Inscription on p. ‘Banon. . Edr:’. First edition. B; Adams A; Salvestrini ; Sturlese . This is the second work of the ‘Frankfurt trilogy’, Bruno’s last three philosophical works published at Frankfurt in : De triplici minimo et mensura; the present work; and De immenso et innumerabilibus, seu de universo et mundis. ‘In the first of these works... Bruno defines the terms of his revaluation of ancient atomism and his commitment ot Euclidean geometry. In the second [the present work] he discusses the concepts of traditional Pythagorean number symbolism, defining and commenting on the accepted meanings of the numbers from to . It is clear, however, that his insistence on the importance of the monad, indicated in the title, links this work with the monadic or atomistic theories proposed in the first work of the trilogy. Only in the third and last work of the trilogy, the De imenso, is Bruno primarily concerned with cosmological speculation.’ (Gatti p. .) Pagel cites this work for Bruno’s exposition of his philosophy of circles, the
circularity of natural proceses, and the centrality of the heart in the microcosm. The motion of the blood from the heart and back to the heart is referred to, though not as clearly as in another work published in the same year, De rerum principiis et elementis et causis (). Hilary Gatti, Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science (); Walter Pagel, William Harvey’s Biological Ideas pp. – and ‘Giordano Bruno, the philosophy of circles and the circular movement of the blood’, Journal of Medical History, (), –.
CAIUS, John (–) De medendi methodo libri duo, ex Galeni Pergameni, & Io. Baptistae Montani... opus utile, & iam primum natum. Basileae M. D. XLIIII. Cum Imp. Maiestatis privilegio. [Colophon:] Basileae apud Hieronymum Froben & Nicolaum Episcopium Anno M. D. XLIIII. Basle: Hieronymus Froben the elder and Nikolaus Episcopius the elder, . vo: a–g (–g blank), of leaves, pp. []. Roman letter with Italic for the dedication. Woodcut printer’s device on title and verso of last leaf, large historiated initials. x mm. Corner of titlepage and b bleached; stains on inner margin of titlepage; small holes in blank margins of colophon leaf. Binding: Recent quarter morocco. Provenance: words of contemporary annotation, rather faint, near the beginning. Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. First edition. Reprinted in Opera aliquot et versiones (Louvain, ). K; Adams C; Bird ; Durling ; Wellcome . ‘Caius was a learned, intelligent, if not always scrupulous Galenist. His De methodo medendi, he claimed, had the merit of bringing the new, humanist Galenism to public attention – its real author, Montanus, was outraged at the plagiarism, but Caius reprinted the book in the Louvain collection of .’ (Vivian Nutton in ODNB) At the age of Caius left his comfortable academic life as a fellow of Gonville Hall, Cambridge to study medicine at Padua. There he shared a house with Vesalius, four years his junior and recently appointed professor of anatomy. They also shared an interest in studying Galenic anatomy manuscripts. But while Caius gained a lifelong commitment to Galen and an evangelical zeal for the return of Galenic principles to modern medicine, Vesalius’ researches led him in the opposite direction. His dissections revealed errors in Galen which no amount of scholarly editing and translating could resolve. Caius returned to England, his faith in Galen unshaken, and set up as a physician in London. He became extremely wealthy, leaving large benefactions to the College of Physicians and to his old Cambridge College, refounded in as Gonville and Caius College – generally referred to as Caius College.
CELSUS, Aulus Cornelius (fl. .. ) De re medica libri octo, inter Latinos eius professionis autores facilè principis: ad veterum & recentiu[m] exemplarium fidem, necnon doctorum hominum iudicium, summa diligentia excusi. Accessit... Scribonii Largi... Compositionu[m] medicamentorum: nunc primum, tineis & blattis, ereptus industria Joannis Ruellii doctoris disertissimi. Parisiis apud Christianum Wechel, sub scuto Basiliensi. M.D. XXIX. [Colophon:] Excudebat Parisiis Simon Silvius Anno Domini. M. D. XXVIII. mense Octobri. Paris: Simon du Bois for Chrétien Wechel, . Folio: A–B C A–Y; * * A–F (blanks Y and *), leaves, ff. [] []; [] [] including the blanks. Text in Roman letter, with Italic in preliminary matter. Title within a woodcut border, a fine series of -line historiated initials and smaller decorated initials. [bound with:]
GALEN Liber de plenitudine. Polybus de salubri victus ratione privatorum. Guinterio Joanne Andernaco interprete. Apuleius Platonicus de herbarum virtutibus. Antonii Benivenii Libellus de abditis nonullis ac mirandis morboru[m] & sanationum causis. Prostant in vico Jacobaeo, apud Christianu[m] Wechel, sub scuto Basileinsi. M. D. XXVIII. Paris: Simon du Bois for Chrétien Wechel, Folio: aa–gg; AA–CC D (–D), of leaves, ff. ; , D. Type and initials as above. x mm. Narrow strip cut away from head of first title leaf and a larger strip (mm) from the foot restored with minimal loss to woodcut border; first title dustsoiled and discoloured, marginal waterstains in prelims; multiple worm holes at the beginning and end of the volume, one or two round holes through the text of the first work, several elongated holes in the text of the second work. After the prelims of the first work clean and fresh copies. Binding: Eighteenth-century English calf. Old rebacking, rubbed. Provenance: Motto ‘Mors Christi mihi vita’ and signature ‘Hen: Lester’ in a sixteenth-century hand on titlepage with a date, , apparently added later; about words of marginal annotation in the first work and in the second in another contemporary hand; engraved arms (unidentified) pasted to verso of title. Walter Pagel’s signature dated . I. First edition, first issue with * blank (in the second issue a letter by Pellisso dated October is printed on this leaf) of Ruel’s recension of Celsus, De re medica (first edition ) including the editio princeps of Scribonius Largus, De compositionibus medicamentorum. Inventaire Chronologiques state A; Adams C; Bird ; Durling ; Wellcome ; the Scribonius is Garrison–Morton .
II: first edition, containing the editio princeps of Galen, De plinitudine and later editions of works by Pliny and Benivieni. Inventaire Chronologique ; Adams G; Bird ; Durling; Wellcome . Durling, Chronological census .. An important compendium edited by Jean Ruel, usually catalogued as two separate works but fairly clearly issued as a single entity and usually bound together as here. The first text in the first work is Ruel’s edition of Celus De medicina, the oldest Western medical document after the Hippocratic writings: it is of enormous importance for medical historians and ‘for four centuries it proved to be an eminently useful handbook of medicine for practitioners’ (Grolier Medicine no. ). This is followed by the editio princeps of Scribonius Largus (fl. ), De compositionibus medicamentorum ‘an important compilation of drugs and prescriptions... Scribonius was the first to describe accurately the preparation of true Opium’ (Garrison–Morton). The second work contains the editio princeps of Galen’s De plenitudine, translated by Guinter von Andernach, which was not included in editions of the Opera omnia before . This is followed by Polybus, De salubri victus ratione privatorum, also translated by Guinter, the Herbal of Apuleus (first printed in , but early editions are rare, the earliest in the Hunt catalogue is ), and Benivieni’s Libellus de abditis nonullis ac mirandis morborum et sanationum causis. This last was first printed in , and is the first modern work to contain reports of post-mortem examinations carried out to ascertain the cause of death (see Garrison–Morton and Osler ). The editor, Jean Ruel (–), produced many scholarly editions and translations – including the first of Dioscorides – and is regarded as one of the first popularisers of botany. In this copy, with an English provenance, the annotation is most extensive in the text of Apuleius’ Herbal. R. J. Durling, ‘A chronological census of renaissance edition and translations of Galen’, J. Warburg (and Courtauld) Institute (), –.
CESALPINO, Andrea ( or –) De plantis libri XVI... Florentiae, apud Georgium Marescottum. MDLXXXIII. Florence: Giorgio Marescotti, . to: a–e, A–K, leaves, pp. [], , []. Roman and Italic letter in prelims, text in Roman. Woodcut printer’s devices on title and last leaf, woodcut headpieces and initials. x mm. Titlepage soiled; worm holes and tracks in the prelims and inner margin in the first half of the book, not affecting the text, and in the index touching a few letters without significant loss; leaves (sigs Z–F) damaged towards the lower margin from a sharp edged rectangular object once pressed between the leaves, causing some tears which have been repaired; isolated stains. On the whole a good fresh copy.
Binding: Contemporary vellum over thin boards, yapp fore-edges, green page edges. Head of spine repaired. Provenance: Centre of front pastedown cut out, presumably to remove a bookplate; ownership inscription, possibly ‘W. S. Hancs’, dated on titlepage. A few bibliographical notes in an early hand on titlepage, endleaves and in the text; the nineteenth-century owner has annotated many of the entries with Linnaean binomials. Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. First edition. ; Adams C; Bird ; Manchester ; Wellcome ; Pritzel *; Printing and the Mind of Man ; Dibner, Heralds of Science . The begining of scientific botany. ‘With Andreas Cesalpinus a new era begins... His book “On Plants” was the first attempt to classify plants in a systematic manner based on a comparative study of forms; a similar study had been made by Gesner but was not published until the eighteenth century. The traditional division into trees, shrubs, half-shrubs and herbs is retained, but they are now subdivided into different categories according to their seed, fruit and flower. The first section contains the general system, while the other fifteen sections describe , plants in fifteen classes.’ (Printing and the Mind of Man.) Cesalpino was professor of materia medica and director of the botanical garden at Pisa and later professor at the Sapienza in Rome and physician to Pope Clement VIII. Linnaeus was greatly indebted to this work and it is therefore quite fitting that a later owner has added Linnaean taxonomy to Cesalpino’s plant descriptions.
CESALPINO, Andrea ( or –) Quaestionum peripateticarum lib. V.... Daemonum investigatio peripatetica... Quaestionum medicarum libri II. De medicament. facultatibus lib. II... Venetiis, apud Juntas. MDXCIII. Venice: Lucantonio Giunta, . to: †–† a b A–N O (–O blank), of leaves, ff. [] , wanting the final blank. Roman letter with Italic headings and prelims, woodcut device on title, woodcut initials, head and tailpieces. A few diagrams in the text. x mm. A rather small copy (the Norman copy measures x mm), but clean and fresh. Binding: Eighteenth-century French calf backed boards, gilt spine, red sprinkled edges. Spine chipped and torn, corners worn, upper inner hinge splitting, endleaves removed. Provenance: Old oval stamp erased from blank area of title. Walter Pagel’s signature, undated.
Second, enlarged edition of Quaestionum peripateticum (first as Peripateticarum quaestionum, ), second edition of Daemonum investigatio (first ) and first editions of the other two tracts. ; Adams C; Bird ; Durling ; Manchester ; Wellcome ; Garrison–Morton . Cesalpino’s chief scientific and medical work setting out his Aristotelian approach to medicine and science and including his most important medical studies, on the anatomy and physiology of the movement of the blood. In the first edition of the the Quaesionum Cesalpino had preceded Harvey in putting forward the idea of the circulation of the blood – though without experimental evidence – and is credited with being the first to use the phrase ‘circulatione sanguinis’. In this second, enlarged edition, he records for the first time the results of tying a vein and the centripetal flow in the veins (p. ). Pagel made a close study of the text, stating that: ‘In assessing Cesalpinus’ (–) position with regard to Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of the blood two points stand out as focal: . Cesalpinus’ statement that there is a perpetual movement of blood into the heart from the veins and from the heart into the arteries, and . the linking of this statement with a corollary to the effect that the venous flow to the heart applies not only to the blood conveyed by the inferior vena cava, but to peripheral veins as well.’ (Pagel p. ). Pagel devotes pages to a closely argued analysis of Cesalpino’s ideas in relation to Harvey’s, examining both the and revised texts of the Questionum as well as the other texts published in this edition and in Cesalpino’s other works. He concludes that ‘In spite of some fundamental differences from Harvey and although lacking any certainty and synthesis, Cesalpinus remains an important forerunner of Harvey – if not the most important.’ Harvey does not mention Cesalpino in any of his writings, but Pagel says that it is hardly conceivable that Harvey was not acquainted with Cesalpino. But maybe not, as there was no copy of the Quaestionum in the Library of the College of Physicians which included Harvey’s own books. Merret’s catalogue of the library () shows that there was, however, a copy of De plantis – on the same shelf as Harvey’s De motu cordis. Pagel, William Harvey’s Biological Ideas (), pp. –; English translation, with commentary, of the sections in Cesalpino’s work dealing with the circulation, by Clark, Nimis and Rochefort, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences () –.
CHAMPIER, Symphorien ( or –c. ) Symphonia Platonis cum Aristotel: & Galeni cu[m] Hippocrate... Hippocratica philosophia eiusdem. Platonica medicina de duplici mundo: cum eiusde[m] scholiis. Speculum medicinale platonicum: & apologia literaru[m] humaniorum. Quae omnia venundantur ab Iodoco Badio. [Colophon:] Impressum est hoc opus apud Badiu[s] Parrhisiis. Anno salutis. MD. XVI.XIIII, Calen. Maias. Paris: Jodocus Badius Ascensius, .
vo: a–x y, ff. [I]–CLXXII. Roman letter. Woodcut on title ( x mm). A fine series of -line woodcut criblé initials and several smaller series; woodcut medallion on rv. x mm. Two round wormholes through the text on a and the first two leaves of each gathering for the rest of the book; a few isolated stains but a fine fresh copy. Binding: Contemporary limp vellum stained green, yapp edges, remains of ties, French vernacular vellum MS used as sewing guards. Spine cracked and chipped at the head. Provenance: Early shelf mark on title; early nineteenth-century owner’s stamp of Ph. le Bas at foot of title. First edition. Adams C; Renouard, Badius Ascensius II, pp. –. Champier examines the conformity between Plato and Aristotle on the one hand, and Galen and Hippocrates on the other. The punning title is taken up in the lovely woodcut on the titlepage, showing a symphony of the four characters, a string quarted with Galen on fiddle, perhaps leading the quartet, Plato, Aristotle and Hippocrates on viols. Symphorien Champier was born at St. Saphorine-le-Château, in the Lyonais, and gained his medical education at Montpellier. He was an alderman of the city of Lyon in and in established the College of Medicine in the city. Champier studied Greek and Arabic texts and wrote a number of historical works as well as his large output of medical works. Garrison calls him ‘One of the earliest of the French humanists’ and ‘one of the last of the conciliators of Greek and Arabist doctrine’ (History of Medicine, th edition, , p. ).
COITER, Volcher (–) Externarum et internarum principalium humani corporis partium tabulae, atque anatomicae exercitationes observationesque variae, novis, diversis, ac artificiosissimis figuris illustratae, philosophis, medicis, in primis autem anatomico studio addictis summè utiles... Noribergae, in officina Theodorici Gerlatzeni. M. D. LXXIII. Nuremberg: Dietrich Gerlach, . Folio: A A–B C D–Q R (–R blank), of leaves, pp. [] – [] – [] – [], without the final blank. of leaves of engraved plates, , . Roman and Italic letter, -line woodcut initials. x mm. Titlepage discoloured, clean tear in L closed, plates stained and possibly inserted from another copy, first plate cut where folded and re-joined with slight loss of engraved surface. Binding: Eighteenth-century boards, red stained edges. Worn. Provenance: Contemporary signature ‘Martinus Fogelii Hamburg’ (very faint) on title and a few words of annotation in the same hand; another signature erased from endleaf. Walter Pagel’s signature, undated.
First edition (a few copies are dated on the titlepage). ZV; Adams C; Manchester p. ; Durling ; Wellcome ; Garrison–Morton (for ‘De auditus organis’). A collection of ten short works, including: the first monograph on the ear; the earliest study of the growth of the skeleton as a whole in the human foetus; the first description of the spinal ganglia and musculus corrrugtor supercilii; and the first published study of chick embryo development based on daily observation. Coiter was one of the first anatomists to make drawings of his own observations. The engravings are signed ‘V. C. D.’ for Volcher Coiter delineavit. The first two leaves of plates bear impressions of four engravings of the skull, followed by two full page plates of adult skeletons after Vesalius but more accurate in anatomical detail (see Herlinger pp. –). The three plates missing from this copy are two human foetal skeletons and a simian skeleton. According to Cole, ‘the first to elevate this study [comparative anatomy] to the rank of an independent branch of biology, is the Frisian Volcher Coiter, whose relevant works were published in and ’ (Cole p. ). The present work can therefore be regarded as the foundation of scientific comparative anatomy. The other work cited by Cole is Fallopius, Lectiones... ex diversis exemplaribus a Volchero Coiter summa cum diligentia collectae (Nuremberg, ). Coiter was born at Gröningen. He studied at Montpellier and in Italy with Eustacius, Fallopius and Aldrovandi. His career in Italy was cut short when he was imprisoned by the Inquisiton. On his release he left Italy for Augsburg and later went to Nuremberg, where he became the city’s chief physician and anatomist. F. J. Cole, A History of Comparative Anatomy () pp. –; English translation of the Externarum with introduction by B. W. Th. Nuyens and Abraham Schierbeek in Opuscula selecta Neerlandicorum de arte medica, (); Choulant– Frank pp. –. K. B. Roberts and J. D. W. Tomlinson, The Fabric of the Body: European Traditions of Anatomical Illustration (Oxford, ) p. .
COLOMBO, Realdo (c. –) De re anatomica libri XV. Hisce iam accesserunt Ioannis Posthii... Obs. Anatomicae. Cum indice rerum... Francofurdi, apud Martinum Lechlerum, sumptibus Petri Fischeri. M D XCIII. Frankfurt: Martin Lechler for Peter Fischer, . vo: * A–H I K–L M, leaves, pp. [] []. Italic letter with Roman headings and shoulder notes. Woodcut device on title, woodcut initials. x mm. Uniform light browning, Wormholes in blank margins at the end, wormtracks in the last leaves repaired. Binding: Contemporary blind-stamped pigskin with of linen ties, panel stamp showing Avicenna on lower board; central panel cut out from upper board. Spine rubbed.
Provenance: Moritz Roth (–) pathologist and historian, with signature on free endleaf; Basle Public Library with release stamp on free endleaf. Walter Pagel’s signature on endleaf and notes on pastedown. Fifth edition, a reprint of the Frankfurt, Wechel, edition of (first, folio, Venice, ). Johannes Posthius (–), In Realdi Columbi... Observationes anatomcae, here on pp. –, was first printed in the edition. The index appears here for the first time. C; Adams C; Bird ; Durling . Colombo is famous for having discovered the pulmonary transit of the blood from the left ventricle of the heart to the right through the lungs, firmly rejecting the possibility that blood could pass through the supposed septum from one side of the heart to the other. This discovery was first reported by Colombo’s pupil Valverde in (see no. below), before the publication of the first edition of De re anatomica in . Colombo made many improvements to Vesalius’ anatomical descriptions and corrected many errors. ‘[H]e succeeded in giving a good account of human anatomy that was both brief and clear; these qualities probably explain the considerable popularity of the De re anatomica during the later sixteenth century’ (Jerome J. Bylebyl, DSB : b). As well as the discovery of the pulmonary circuit, Colombo’s studies of the origin of the pulse were among the most important stepping stones for Harvey in his discovery of the circulation of the blood. On the endleaf of this copy Pagel has noted that this edition was the one used by Harvey and quoted by him in Praelectiones anatomicae fol. r, with a reference to p. on the motion of the heart. A student of medicine at Padua, Colombo probably received his degree in and in gave the annual anatomical demonstration while Vesalius was in Basle overseeing the printing of the Fabrica. Colombo formally took over the chair of anatomy from Vesalius in . Shortly afterwards he went to Pisa and then Rome where he made anatomical investigations with Michelangelo with the intention of publishing an illustrated anatomy to supersede Vesalius. Michelangelo’s declining health meant that this project was abandoned. The former owner of this copy, Moritz Roth (–), professor of pathology at Basle is remembered for ‘Roth’s spot’, a white, round spot in the retina close to the optic disk, often surrounded by oval areas of haemorrhages. He wrote many articles on medical history and a ‘remarkable biography’ of Vesalius in (Cushing, Bio-bibliography of Andreas Vesalius p. xv and Vesaliana no. ). Walter Pagel, William Harvey’s Biological Ideas (), pp. -.
DODOENS, Rembert (–) Purgantium aliarumque eo facientium, tum et radicum, convolvulorum ac deleteriarum herbarum historiae libri IIII... Accessit Appendix variaru[m] & quidem rarissimarum nonnullarum strirpium, ac florum... Antverpiae, ex officina Christophori Plantini Architypographi Regii. M.D.LXXIIII. Antwerp: Christoph Plantin, .
vo: A–Z a–i, leaves, pp. []. Italic letter with Roman headings and shoulder notes. Woodcut printer’s device on title, full page botanical woodcuts. x mm. Woodcuts fully or partly coloured by a contemporary hand: some degradation of the pigments on a few pages; titlepage soiled and stained and frayed in the margins and with several holes affecting text on recto and verso; a few shoulder notes just shaved; small burn hole in I and tear in i with minor loss; heavily browned throughout. Binding: Recent vellum boards. Provenance: Several early signatures erased from the title and old round stamps, one with initials ‘MZ’; a few contemporary annotations. First edition. Voet, Plantin press ; Adams D; Bird ; Durling ; Manchester ; Wellcome ; Hunt ; Nissen ; Pritzel ; Meerbeeck . An interesting partly coloured copy of one of the small format herbals that Dodoens published in preparation for his folio Stirpium historiae pemptades sex (). ‘This herbal was a third step towards the preparation of the Stirpium historiae pemptades sex. As was the case with the first two preparatory herbals, there was a preference for a small, but handy booklet. Four groups of plants were described in four books and chapters: plants with laxative properties, plants with medicinal roots, climbing plants and poisonous plants. The majority of the woodblocks used for the woodcuts of these plants were cut by Gerard Janssen van Kampen probably according to drawings by Peeter van der Borcht. Meanwhile Dodoens had also discovered new species that, according to him, rather belonged in the two herbals published before. The new study material and the respective illustrations were therefore added to the herbal in a separate contribution. Although this appendix was a part of the herbal, it was given a separate title page and divided into two parts. A first part, subdivided into chapters, showed plants. An additional illustrations, mainly Umbelliferae, were added to the chapters of the second part.’ (Botany in the Low Countries no. .) Dodoens was born at Mechelen (now Malines, Belgium) and studied medicine at Louvain. Between and he travelled in Italy, Germany and France before returning to Mechelen where he was appointed a municipal physician in . In the year the Purgantium was published he left Mechelen for Vienna to take up the post of physician to the Emperor Maximillian II, remaining to serve Rudolph II in the same capacity. He returned to the Low Countries via Cologne, thence to Antwerp where he supervised the printing of Stirpium historiae pemptades sex by Plantin, and spent the remainder of his life at Leiden. A heavily browned copy but attractively coloured by a contemporary or early hand. The colouring is fascinating for being unfinished. The woodcuts are fully coloured to p. , thereafter a few are fully coloured but most were left in the process of being coloured. Often just one colour is applied to a run of woodcuts, with sometimes a second colour added. In other words the woodcuts were evidently coloured in groups, not one at a time and a close
study of this copy should reveal more about the way woodcut herbals were coloured at this period. P. J. van Meerbeeck, Recherches Historiques et Critiques sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Rembert Dodoens (); F. de Nave and D. Imhof, eds, Botany in the Low Countries (Plantin-Moretus Museum exhibition catalogue, ).
DRYANDER, Johannes (–) Anatomia, hoc est, corporis humani dissectionis pars prior, in qua singula quae ad caput spectant recensentur membra, atq[ue] singulae partes, singulis suis ad vivum commodissimè expressis figuris, deliniantur. Omnia recens nata. Per Io. Dryandrum medicum & Mathematicum: item Anatomia [brace] Porci, ex traditione Cophonis; infantis, ex Gabriele de Zerbis. [end of bracketed section] Marpurgi apud Eucharium Cervicornum. Anno mese Junio. Marburg: Eucharius Cervicornus, . to: a–i, leaves unpaginated, and a folding letterpress table. Roman letter, woodcut border to title, one half page gothic initial, one -line and six -line woodcut initials, and woodcut illustrations ( full page including repeats and half page), printer’s device and motto on iv. x mm. Border of woodcut on f. [] just touched by the binder’s knife; exceptionally skillful and almost invisible paper restoration to inner margins, with small portions of the extremity of the woodcut on f. []v and the borders of the woodcuts on f. [], [] and [] touched in. An unusually large copy, fine and fresh. Binding: Recent vellum backed boards. Provenance: Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. Second edition of Anatomia capitis humani , with considerable additions. The original work comprised leaves with woodcuts, re-used here. E; Durling ; Manchester ; Wellcome ; Garrison–Morton Heirs of Hippocrates ; Choulant pp. –; Stillwell ; Norman . This famous work on the anatomy of the head is one of the most important illustrated anatomical treatises before Vesalius. It is one of the first monographs on a single part of the body, one of the first illustrated anatomies, and the illustrations are, with those of Berengario, the best that were published before Vesalius’ Fabrica in (Lind p. ). Dryander performed some of the earliest dissections in Germany and was one of the first anatomists to make illustrations after his own dissections. This edition was intended to be the first part of a complete illustrated anatomy, but the project was abandoned. Despite accusing Dryander of plagiarism, in works printed in and , Vesalius himself copied Dryander’s illustrations of dissections of the head. The text expands that of the Anatomia capitis humani, exploring the
anatomy of the head in greater detail, and including new material on the lungs and heart as a preliminary to the larger treatise that never appeared (hence the ‘pars prior’ in the title). Also included is the th-century Anatomia porci, traditionally ascribed to Copho (fl. ca. ) and first printed at Lyon in , and excerpts from the Anatomia infantis by Gabriele de Zerbis (–), a treatise on the anatomy of the foetus. Born at Wetter in Oberhessen, Johannes Eichmann, or Dryander as he is usually known, took his MA at Erfurt in and studied at Bourges and at Paris between and , at the same time that Vesalius was there. The woodcuts consist of full-page illustrations of the head and brain, of which were reprinted from the Anatomia capitis with the numbers removed from the woodblocks, the remaining two full-page skull cuts, both dated , being new to this edition; four small detail cuts of the skull seen from different angles, also reprinted from the earlier work; and four large new cuts of the chest and lungs, one dated . The blockcutter of the new woodcuts, as well as five of the previously used cuts, signs himself with the initial G with a pair of compasses, or sometimes G V B, or V B only. The initials G V B have been associated with Georg Thomas of Basle – the pair of compasses is the symbol of the apostle Thomas (Herlinger). This is an unusually large and complete copy: the woodcuts are almost always cropped, and the printed table often lacking. L. R. Lind, Studies in Pre-Vesalian anatomy () pp. –, – and translations and illustrations from the edition, –; Robert Herlinger, History of Medical Illustration from Antiquity to A.D. () pp. –; K. B. Roberts and J. D. W. Tomlinson, The Fabric of the Body: European Traditions of Anatomical Illustration () pp. –.
DRYANDER, Johannes (–) Artzenei Speigel Gemeyner Innhalt derselbigen, Wes beide, einem Leib unnd Wundtartzt, in der Theoric, Practic, unnd Chirurgei züsteht. Mit anzeyge bewerter Artzneien, zu allen Leiblichen Gebrechen, durch natürliche mittel, siebei beneben des menschen Cörpers Anatomei, und Chirurgischen Instrumenten, warhafft Contrafeyt, und beschriben... D. Joan. Dryandrum; Jetzt widerumb, mit verbesserung, inn Truck verordnet... Zu Franckfort am Meyn, bei Christian Egenolffs Erben [no date on titlepage, colophon:] Im Jar M.D. XLVII. Frankfurt: heirs of Christian Egenolff the elder, . Folio: * A–Z a–b c (–c, presumably blank), of leaves, ff. [] . Gothic letter with a few words in Roman and Roman headings at the end of the book. woodcuts on title, device on verso of last leaf and about woodcuts, including repeats. x mm. A few headlines and the borders of the large woodcut on f. v cropped; extensive paper repairs to margins in the anatomical section at the beginning of the book and on one leaf at the end, affecting
text and woodcuts on a number of pages; soiling to lower outer corners becoming heavy in places, especially in the anatomy section. Binding: Recent half morocco. Provenance: No marks of ownership. About words of annotation in two hands and a pointing fist; the woodcut of a man defecating inked over. Second edition of Der ganzen Artzenei,; another issue or edition with the same foliation is dated . Durling . For the issue see E and Waller . A lavishly illustrated folio, an amazing display of about early fifteenthcentury German medical woodcuts from a range of sources. These include blocks first used in Dryander’s Anatomiae (); his Anatomia Mundini (); and works by other authors, as well as some new cuts. There are a number of sickroom and childbirth scenes, and large and small woodcuts illustrating anatomy, obstetrics and gynaecology, health and diet (many foodstuffs are shown, and a scene of a gardener tending his vegetables in a raised bed) and surgery. The surgery section includes cuts copied from Gersdorff, Feltbuch der Wundtartzney (Strasbourg, ) and a large number of illustrations of surgical instruments. ‘Twenty-three of the leaves, some of them with several figures, are plates taken from the above-mentioned book [Anatomia Mundini]. Two sheets are entirely new and represent () a figure, showing the vascular system, with heart and liver, and () a figure showing the cutaneous veins of the back (leaves and ). On pages b and , we, furthermore, find five smaller figures representing the brain and the tongue. These figures are the same as those of Laurentius, Phryesen, Spiegel der Artzney, Strasburg, , fol., but are positively new engravings [i.e. woodcuts]. A great many other figures are nonanatomic, and were probably all done by Hans Brosamer. Some of them can also be found in other works.’ (Choulant–Frank p. .)
EROTIANUS (st century ); EUSTACHI, Bartolomeo (d. ). Erotiani Graeci scriptoris vetustissimi Vocum, quae apud Hippocratem sunt Collectio. Cum annotationibus Bartholomaei Eustachii... eiusdem que Eustachii Libellus de multitudine... Venetiis, apud Lucam Antonium Iuntam. Venice: Lucantonio Giunta, . to: * A–P Q R–T V, leaves, ff. [] . Greek and Roman letter with Italic in prelims. Woodcut printer’s device on title, woodcut initials, typographic head and tailpieces. x mm. Titlepage frayed with the margins restored and an abrasion affecting the printer’s device; a few leaves browned; worm tracks and waterstains in the blank margins of the last few leaves. Binding: Seventeenth-century vellum boards. Worn, endleaves removed (front enleaf replaced). Provenance: Bookseller’s ticket of Rappaport, Rome.
First Latin edition, translated and annotated by Eustachius. ; Adams E; Durling ; Manchester ; Wellcome . Erotianus’ medical dictionary – a glossary to the works of Hippocrates – was first printed in Greek in Estienne, Dictionarium medicum (). In this edition the words are printed in Greek with Eustachi’s latin translation and extensive commentary. Following the dictionary is the first and only edition of Eustachi’s essay ‘Libellus de multitudine’ in which he admits having overlooked many of Galen’s errors. ‘[Eustachi] had a good humanistic education in the course of which he acquired such an excellent knowledge of Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic that he was able to edit an edition of the Hippocratic glossary of Erotian () and is said to have made his own translations of Avicenna (Ibn Sı¯na¯ ) from the Arabic.’ (C. D. O’Malley, DSB :.) Eustachi is best known for his remarkable series of monographs on the kidney, venous system, auditory organs and teeth, as well as for his anatomical atlas, not published until .
FABRICI, Girolamo – Fabricius ab Aquapendente (–c. ) Pentateuchos cheirurgicum... publicis in Academia Patavina lectionibus ab auctore propositum: iam vero, contractiore paullo forma, capitibus distinctum, lucique datum, opera Johannis Hartmanni Beyeri... Indices novo operi ubique adiecti sunt marginales locupletissimi... Impressum Francofurti ad Moenum, Anno M. D. LXXXII. Impensis Petri Fischeri. Frankfurt: [Martin Lechler, according to VD] for Peter Fischer, . vo: ):(A–Z a–m, leaves, pp. [] []. Roman letter with Italic headings and shoulder notes. Woodcut printer’s device on title, the words ‘Impensis Petri Fischeri’ below the date are hand-stamped; woodcut initials and headpieces. x mm. Slight soiling to titlepage; a good clean copy. Binding: Contemporary vellum boards, remains of linen ties, date stamped on upper board, green page edges. Heavily soiled, spine worn, but a sound binding. Provenance: Inscriptions on titlepage ‘Sum ex lib: Henrici Valentini Kaecrrii[?]’ and Smptg Frid[?]: Herone[?] ’ in the same hand – the date is also stamped on the cover; seventeenth-century engraved armorial bookplate ‘Ex Bibliotheca Venarabilis Conventus Viennensis in Rossaugia Ord: Servorum B.M.V.’ with spaces for shelfmark filled in, and a smaller version of the arms pasted to the margin of p. ; label pasted to upper board, ‘Ad C. R. Academiam Ling: Orient: ’. Early underlining on one page but no annotations. First edition. Another edition was printed in and there were numerous later editions. The copies described by Durling, Norman and have no printers’ name on the titlepage; in this copy Fischer’s name is hand-stamped. F; Durling ; Norman .
The major publication of Fabrici’ s surgical work, edited, without his consent, from notes taken at his lectures by his student, Hartman Beyer. An addendum, Operationes chirurgicae was published in . The five books deal with tumours, wounds, ulcers and fistulas, fractures, and dislocations. Fabrici studied anatomy with Gabriele Fallopio at Padua and succeeded him as professor of anatomy there in . In he was nominated by the university to lecture on both anatomy and surgery. His great series of large format illustrated monographs on anatomy are celebrated especially for the one on the veins, De venarum ostiolis (Venice, ), describing his discovery of the valves in the veins, made in , demonstrated to his students in or and first published by Salomon Alberti in . Among Fabrici’s students was William Harvey, who lodged with him for a while. The mechanism of the valves was crucial to Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of the blood and he reproduced Fabrici’s illustration of the veins (via an intermediary source) in De motu cordis ().
FALLOPPIO, Gabriele (–) Observationes anatomicae... Venetiis. Apud Marcum Antonium Ulmum M D LXII. Venice: Marcantonio Olmo, . vo: * A–E (–E,), leaves, ff. [] . Roman letter. Woodcut device on title, woodcut initials. Errata leaf * present. x mm. Light waterstaining towards the end but a good fresh copy. Binding: Recent vellum boards. Provenance: No marks of ownership or annotation. First edition, second issue with date on title altered from to , the errata corrected and the last two leaves cancelled. Further editions were printed in Cologne and Paris in . ; Bird ; Durling ; Norman ; Garrison–Morton ., and ; LeFanu, Notable Medical Books from the Lilly Library, p. . Falloppio’s most important work (the only one published in his lifetime), one of the classics of anatomy presenting many new discoveries. It takes the form of a commentary on Vesalius, Fabrica in a long continuous narrative, without summary, index or annotations. Among Falloppio’s original contributions, the most famous is his description of the oviducts, the fallopian tubes. He also described the clitoris, asserted the existence of the hymen in virgins, coined the word ‘vagina’ and disproved the popular notion that the penis entered the uterus during coition. In addition ‘Falloppio added to knowledge of the centers of ossification and described the primary teeth and their replacement. He improved on earlier accounts of the muscles of the head and face and also made numerous discoveries concerning nerve pathways. He was the first anatomist to delineate precisely all three ossicles of the ear, and he provided a full description of the kidney.’ (LeFanu.) A native of Modena, Falloppio may have studied under Realdo Colombo, whom he succeeded as professor of anatomy at Padua.
In this second issue of Observationes anatomicae, with the date altered on the title from to , the colophon leaf, bearing the original date and the imprint ‘Apud Gratiosum Perchachinum’, is cancelled, along with the terminal blank. In most copies the errata leaf * is also cancelled because the errata have been corrected, but in this copy it has been left in place. Arturo Castiglioni, ‘Fallopius and Vesalius’, in Harvey Cushing, A Bio-bibliography of Andreas Vesalius (nd edition, ), pp. – and fig. .
FICINO, Marsilio (–) De vita libri tres. [ar] De triplici vita libri tres. Primus de vita sana, sive de cura valitudinis eorum, qui incumbunt studio litterarum. Secundus de vita longa. Tertius de vita coellitus comparanda. [zv] Impressa Venetiis M. ccccxcviii. Venice: Bartholomaeus Pelusius, Gabriel Bracius, Johannes Bissolus and Benedictus Mangius, . to: a–z & & (blank &), leaves, unfoliated. Roman letter, lines per page, initial spaces with guide letters. x mm. First page dustsoiled; single round worm hole through text in first gatherings filled in; a washed copy, but some staining remaining in the lower margins towards the end. Binding: Re-sewn and re-cased in contemporary beech boards with remains of brass clasps, new leather back. Provenance: Bookseller’s ticket of Leo Olschki, Florence. Fifth edition (first ). Goff F; Klebs .; GW ; Walsh – ; Bod-inc F-; BSB-Ink F-. Three books on life, the first being the earliest treatise on the health of scholars; the second on good health and long life; and the third on astrological medicine. There are chapters on headaches, diseases of the stomach, and dietetics. The sections on melancholy are often cited. Ficino’s father was an eminent physician in the household of Cosimo de’ Medici where the young Marsilio got his elementary education. He was also interested in natural philosophy and made considerable progress in medicine under his father’s tuition. At the age of eighteen Ficino was chosen by Cosimo for his long cherished project, the foundation of a Platonic academy. Ficino’s Latin translation of Plato into Italian () became the standard text and he was also responsible for the translation of the works associated with Hermes Trismegistus known as the ‘Corpus Hermeticum’. He translated and edited many Neoplatonic writings, a number of which are included in the Aldine edition of Iamblichus of (no. below). Ficino, Three books on life (), critical edition, translation and notes by Carol V. Kaske and John R. Clark.
FICINO, Marsilio (–) Tractatus singularis...de epidimiae morbo, ex Italico in Latinum versus. [Colophon:] Augustae Vindelicor[um] in Sigismundi Grim[m] Medici & Marci Wyrsung officina ex cusoria Anno virginei partus. M.D.XVIII. sexto Kalen[s]. Octobres. Augsburg: Sigmund Grimm and Marx Wirsung, . to: a–f g (blank g), unnumbered leaves. Roman letter. Woodcut initials, large woodcut ( x mm) on title. x mm. Title slightly discoloured and with a minor ink stain; light waterstain in lower inner corners. A good fresh copy. Binding: Nineteenth-century boards, worn. Provenance: Nineteenth-century inscription ‘Ex libris O. H. ’. Walter Pagel’s signature dated . First Latin edition, translated by Girolamo Ricci (first edition, in Italian, ). F; Durling ; Wellcome ; Heirs of Hippocrates . A treatise on the Plague discussing its signs, causes, diagnosis and treatment. One of Ficino’s earliest works dealing entirely with medicine. The fine sickroom scene on the titlepage is by Hans Burgkmair. It was used again a month later in Engel, Tractat von der Pestilentz (Augsburg, Grimm & Wirsung, November, ). (R. Muther, Die deutsche Bücherillustration, v. () no. .)
FRACASTORO, Girolamo (–) De sympathia et antipathia rerum liber unus. De contagione et contagiosis morbis et curatione libri III. Venetiis. M D XLVI. [Colophon:] Venetiis apud heredes Lucantonii Iuntae Florentini. MDXLVI Mense Aprili. Venice: heirs of Lucantonio Giunta, . to: * A–V (blank V) leaves ff. [] [] including the blank. Italic letter with Roman headings. Woodcut printer’s devices on title and Vv, woodcut initials and dropped capitals. x mm. Wormholes through text in first few gatherings; light marginal waterstains at the beginning and end. A good clean and fresh copy. Binding: Contemporary limp vellum. A little worn, small hole in spine. Provenance: A few corrections in a contemporary hand. Inscribed ‘Walter and Magda Pagel’. First edition. ; Adams F; Durling ; Wellcome . Garrison–Morton ; Lilly p. . The classic work on infectious diseases which introduced the germ theory of disease and for which Fracastoro has been called the founder of scientific epidemiology. LeFanu calls it ‘a truly original contribution to medical knowledge’.
‘De contagione is arranged in three “books.” The first explained the mechanism of contagion, how seminaria can be carried a distance, and how only some diseases are contagious. In the second book he wrote about a series of contagious diseases. Fracastoro had made careful observations; he differentiated smallpox from measles, gave the earliest precise description of typhus, and showed that tuberculosis was contagious. He discussed rabies and syphilis and dealt with the differential diagnosis of contagious skin diseases. Finally, in the third book, he outlined the treatment of diseases covered in book two and commented on the spread and control of epidemics.’ (LeFanu p. ). Fracastoro, humanist scholar and physician in Verona, had already published his famous mock-heroic Latin poem Syphilis in . William R. LeFanu, Notable Medical Books from the Lilly Library ().
FRIES, Lorenz (c. –) Epitome opusculi de curandis pusculis ulceribus, & doloribus morbi Gallici, mali frantzoss appellati... Basileae excudebat Henricus Petrus. [Colophon:]... mense Augusto, anno M. D. XXXII. Basle: Heinrich Petri, . to: A–G, leaves, pp. [] – (i.e. , several errors in pagination) []. Roman letter. -line and -line black on white initials, woodcut printer’s device on title and verso of last leaf. x mm. Light foxing but a good large and fresh copy. Binding: Recent polished calf. First edition. Reprinted with other works on syphilis in Liber de morbo gallico, Venice ; shows an edition Basle at Gottingen, unknown to . F; Bird ; Durling . ‘Fries attributes the outbreak of syphilis at the end of the fifteenth century to conjunctions of the planets on October and November , . He cites Haly Abenragel and the Conciliator or Peter of Abano for the influence of the stars.’ (Thorndike p. ). Thorndike devotes a chapter on sixteenth-century German medicine to Fries and Paracelsus. Fries knew Paracelsus and corresponded with Agrippa and Thorndike notes that ‘His career and writings... had something in common with those of such intellectual vagabonds, devotees of occult science, and semi charlatans as Henry Cornelius Agrippa and Paracelsus’. Fries was from Colmar in Alsace, not from Frisia as his name would suggest, though he may have been of Dutch descent. He studied medicine at Vienna, Piacenza, Pavia and Montpellier. He practiced in Colmar, then Strasbourg, before moving to Metz shortly after Agrippa had left the city. His most famous medical work (he wrote on many other subjects) is the Spiegel der Artznei (), the earliest work in German on internal medicine. This edition includes Scribonius Largus, ‘Antidota’, excerpts from his De compositione medicamentorum liber. Thorndike, V, pp. –.
FUCHS, Leonhart (–) De historia stirpium commentarii insignes. Adjectis earundem vivis, & ad naturae imitationione[m] aritificiosè expressis imaginibus... Accessit iis, succincta admodum vocum quarundam subobscurarum in hoc opere passim occurrentium explanatio. Triplex item index... Lugduni. Apud Balthazarem Arnolletum. M. D. XLIX. [Colophon:] Excudebat Balthazar Arnolletus. Lyon: Balthazar Arnoullet, . vo: aa–bb a–z A–H (blank b), leaves, pp. [] (last blank) []. Roman letter with Italic headings, German names in Gothic. Woodcut device on title, portrait of Fuchs on verso, and botanical woodcuts. x mm. Some soiling in the index; minor spotting and small stains. A very good clean and fresh copy. Binding: German blindstamped pigskin dated on upper board, brass clasps. Corners worn. Provenance: Contemporary or early inscription on free endleaf ‘Sum Danielis Gündelfingeri Nordlingensis’. A few words of contemporary annotation;. Fifth small format edition (first edition: folio, Basle, ; small format editions: mo, Paris, Dupuys ; mo, Paris, Bogardan, ; vo, Lyon, Arnoullet for Gazeau, ; mo, Paris, Fouchet, ). Arnoullet published another edition with the same collation in . Stübler b a; Baudrier X, p. ; Gültlingen IX, Arnoullet ; Adams F; Durling ; Hunt ; Nissen ; Pritzel ; Fairfax Murray ; Mortimer . ‘Perhaps the most beautiful herbal ever published,’ De historia stirpium was first printed at Basle as a folio in , with a German edition in the following year. ‘Fuchs was professor of medicine at Tübingen; and as such his primary objectives were to improve the knowledge of materia medica and to show the largest possible number of plants useful as drugs and herbs. He described four hundred German and one hundred foreign plants and illustrated them in five hundred and twelve superb woodcuts... Yet Fuchs’s interest in plants was not wholly pharmacological; he dilates upon the beauties of nature, and he is enough of a true botanist to describe the characteristics of plants, their habits, habitats, and forms.’ (Printing and the Mind of Man .) New woodcuts were made for this edition, the portrait of Fuchs and the botanical illustrations copied from the folio edition by Clement Bussey who moved from Paris to Lyon to work for Arnoullet in . A most attractive copy, showing signs of use but still well preserved in a stout binding with the brass clasps intact. Edward Stübler, Leonhart Fuchs, Leben und Werk ().
GALEN, Liber de plenitudine (), bound with Celsus, De re medica libri octo (), no. above.
GEBER (th cent) In hoc volumine de alchemia continentur haec. Gebri Arabis... De investigatio[n]e p[er]fectionis metallor[um]. Liber I. Summae perfectionis metallorum, sive perfecti magisterii. Libri II... Eiusdem De inventione veritatis seu perfectionis metallorum. Liber I. De fornacibus construendis. Liber I. Item. Speculu[m] Alchemiae... Rogerii Bachonis [etc]... Norimbergae apud Joh. Petreium, Anno M. D. XLI. [Colophon: ] Excusum Norimbergae per Joh. Petreium, anno M. D. XLI. Mense Augusto. Nuremberg: Johann Petreius, . to: a–b c a–z A–Z &, leaves, pp. [] (i.e. , – omitted) []. Roman letter. Woodcut initials and three-quarter page woodcuts (including repeats). x mm. Title and prelims dustsoiled; waterstains in the last third of the book; a good copy. Binding: Eighteenth-century panelled sheep. Rebacked (pencil note on rear pastedown, ‘Reback Dr Pagel’). Provenance: A few contemporary annotations and extensive later annotations (seventeenth-century? French?) in the margins throughout and on inserted slips, the annotations cropped, mostly without loss of sense. Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. Later edition, the first printed in Nuremberg with the addition of works by Bacon and others (first edition of Geber’s alchemical works, Rome, probably ). Ferguson lists the following sixteenth-century Latin editions: Strasbourg, , , (?), , all folio; to, Nuremberg, [the present edition]; vo, Venice, ; Nuremberg, to, (with other works [a reprint of the present edition]); vo, Basle, [see next item]; vo, Strasbourg, . Translations were first printed in German in ; in French in ; and in English in . J; Wellcome . A significant edition of Geber’s alchemical writings, of which the ‘Summa perfectionis’ is ‘by far the longest and most important. We may consider it the main chemical textbook of mediaeval Christendom... an elaborate treatise on the art, at once theoretical and practical’ (Sarton). The writings that go under the name of Geber were once thought to be the work of the eighth-century Arabian alchemist, Jabı¯r ibn H . ayya¯n; in fact they are quite separate and probably written in the second half of the thirteenth century. Sarton comments that ‘whether they be translations or elaborations, they represent the amount of Arabic chemical knowledge made available to Latin reading people toward the end of the thirteenth century; or, to put it otherwise, they represent the best Latin knowledge on chemistry in that period.’ (Sarton II, p. .) This edition, printed by Johann Petreius who was to print the
first edition of Copernicus, De revolutionibus two years later, contains six other treatises in addition to the four by Geber. These are specified on the titlepage as ‘Speculu[m] alchemiae... Rogerii Bachonis. Correctorium alchemiae... Richardi Anglici [see no. below]. Rosarius minor, de alchemia, incerti authoris. Liber secretorum alchemiae Calidis filii Iazichi Judaei [Khalid ibn Yazid]. Tabula smaragdina de alchemia, Hermetis Trismeg. Hortulani philosophi, super tabulam smaragdinam Hermetis commentarius.’ Pagel has noted on the endleaf (following Ferguson) that this edition contains the first edition of Hermes Trismegistus Tabula smaragdina, the ‘Emerald Table’, one of the most ancient alchemical texts and for a long time associated with Hermes. Indeed alchemy itself has always been called the Hermetic art. Almost everything about the text and its authorship are problematic, yet ‘The student of the history of chemistry cannot well ignore it’ (Ferguson). And according to Read, ‘Although the precepts of Hermes Trismegistos have sometimes been dismissed as meaningless, they appear to offer one of the oldest statements of fundamental alchemical doctrine. The Emerald Table, whatever its source may have been, exerted a profound influence upon alchemical writings of the thirteenth century and later.’ (Read p. .) At the end of the volume is an address by Petreius and a list of works which he intends to edit and publish. Sarton II, pp. –. Ferguson, Bibliotheca chemica I, p. for Geber and I, for Hermes; Read, Prelude pp. – for Geber and – for Hermes; for Jabı¯r ibn H . ayya¯n, who was not the author of these works, as was established at the end of the nineteenth century, see DSB VII:–, but confusion still reigns and the works of Geber are still sometimes catalogued under Jabir’s name.
GEBER (th cent) Summa perfectionis magisterii... cum quorundam Capitulor[m], vasorum, & fornacum, in volumne alias mendosissime impresso omissorum. Libriq[ue] investigationis magisterii, & Testamenti eiusdem Geberis... [no imprint on title, Rv:] Venetiis apud Petrum Schoeffer: Germanum, Mauntinum. Anno . [Rv, under printer’s device:] Apud Dominum Joannem Baptistam pederzanu[m] Brixiensem. Anno . Venice: Giovanni Battista Pederzano and Peter Schoeffer, . vo: [A] B–R, leaves, ff. [] pp. – ff. ‒ []. Italic letter with Roman headings. Woodcut initials, woodcut printer’s device on verso of last leaf. Full page woodcut on verso of title and smaller woodcuts on other leaves. (The change from pagination to foliation after the second gathering is of no textual significance.) x mm. Woodcut on verso of title shaved; light waterstains on first and last few leaves. A fine fresh copy. Binding: Contemporary limp vellum, old MS lettering on top edge, later lettering on spine, ties lacking. Strip torn from top of front free endleaf.
Provenance: Contemporary note of contents on front free endleaf and words of annotation in the same hand in Italian on f. , a few marginal marks and a pointing fist. Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. Later edition of Geber’s works (see note above for earlier editions) but the first to contain the Testamentum. ; Adams G; Duveen p. ; Neu ; Neville I, p. ; Wellcome . This important edition is the first to include the Testamentum, the fifth of the five treatise ascribed to Geber. The earlier editions contained only four treatises (see above). The edition also includes Ibn Sı¯na¯ (Avicenna), Mineralia and Interpretatio Epistolae Alexandri Regis; Kha¯lid, Liber Trium Verborum; and the anonymous treatises Philosopphici lapidis secreta; and Merlini allegoria; and Rachaidibi et al, De materia philosophici lapidis.
GEMMA FRISIUS, Reiner (–) De radio astronomico & geometrico liber. In quo multa quae ad geographiam, opticam, geometriam & astronomiam utiliss. sunt, demonstrantur... Adjunximus brevem tractationem... Lutetiae, Apud Gulielmum Cavellat, in pingui gallina, ex adverso Colegii Cameracensis. cum privilegio regis. Paris: Guillaume Cavelat, . vo: a–l, leaves, ff. []. Italic letter with Roman headings. Woodcut initials and headpieces and woodcut illustrations. x mm. Wormholes in title affecting a few letters; light browning. A good fresh copy. Binding: Contemporary limp vellum, red edges. A little soiled, small tears in spine but a well preserved binding. Provenance: Occasional underlining and one correction in the margin; inscription on title ‘Joh. Jessenius Pragae comp. An. ’, identified by Pagel as Johann Jessenio de Magna Jessen (–) of Prague, famous physician, Rector of Prague University & Statesman, executed after the battle at the White Mountain. Second, enlarged edition, some copies are dated (first edition Antwerp ). Adams A; van Ortroy ; Renouard Parisiens, Cavelat ; Houzeau and Lancaster . An important surveying treatise describing the construction and use of an improved cross staff. The Jacob’s staff, or cross-staff, the earliest surveying and astronomical instrument discussed by Daumas, was reputedly invented by the fourteenth-century Jewish astronomer, Levi ben Gerson. It was used by Regiomontanus for astronomical observations and Ryff illustrated its use in measuring the heights of towers in , but it was only adopted as an important instrument in surveying and navigation in the course of the sixteenth century. ‘Gemma Frisius, early in the sixteenth century, published a detailed description of the Jacob’s staff in a more rational form. As he described it, the instrument consisted of a staff, and a cross-piece, or transom,
whose respective lengths were in the proportion of :. Thus a staff cubits in length had a cross-piece ½ cubits long. Staff and cross-piece were engraved with scales for angle reading... The construction of such an instrument at the date at which Gemma Frisius described it, cannot have been easy. Long, cumbersome and fragile, it had to withstand complex handling. The same instrument was described in a simpler form by Gallucci in .’ (Daumas p..) After Gemma’s text is a table for laying out sun dials by Peurbach, as in the first edition, followed by two shorter treatises not printed there: ‘De arte mensurandi in compositionem baculi Iacobi Ioannes Spang’; and ‘Sebastianus Munsterus de baculo Jacob ex lib. I. de principiis geometriae eiusdem’. Maurice Daumas trs Mary Holbrook, Scientific Instruments of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries and their Makers (); Fernand van Ortroy, ‘Bibliographie de Gemma Frisius’, Mémoires de l’Acadèmie royale des sciences... de Belgique, Classe des Letters, nd ser. ().
GESNER, Konrad (–) The newe jewell of health, wherein is contayned the most excellent secretes of phisicke and philosophie, devided into fower bookes. In the which are the best approved remedies for the diseases as well inwarde as outwarde, of all the partes of mans bodie: treating very amplye of all dystillations of waters, of oyles, balmes, quintessences, with the extraction of artificiall saltes, the use and preparation of antimonie, and potable gold. Gathered out of the best and most approved authors, by that excellent doctor Gesnerus. Also the pictures, and maner to make the vessels, furnaces, and other instrumentes thereunto belonging. Faithfully corrected and published in Englishe, by George Baker, chirurgian. Printed at London, by Henrie Denham . London: Henry Denham, . to: * A–Y A–L M, leaves; ff. [] . Black letter with Roman and Italic headings. Large woodcut on title, arms on the verso, initials and text illustrations. x mm. Titlepage soiled, blank corners of prelims restored; small wormholes in inner margins touching a letter or two on leaves; some waterstaining and browning, but a largely fresh and clean copy. Binding: Eighteenth-century half russia. Spine cracked, chipped and worn, corners worn. Provenance: Contemporary inscription on Br ‘George Gower est verus possessor huius libri praecui s d’ and about words of marginal annotation, mostly on ff. –, in the same hand. This could be George Gower (d. ), the leading portrait painter in London in the s and s, appointed sergeant-painter to
Elizabeth I in (see ODNB); Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. First edition in English, a translation of Euonymus, sive de remediis secretis, pars secunda (), by George Baker (–). Another edition was printed in under the title The practise of the new and old phisicke (with the same collation but a complete re-setting and with changes to the prelims). STC ; ESTC S; Wellisch B.; Durling ; Wellcome ; Cole ; Neville I, pp. –; Luborsky and Ingram I, pp. –. A translation of the second part of Gesner’s Thesaurus Euonymi Philiatri de remediis secretis (), known as the first textbook of pharmaceutical chemistry. It was this work that proved to be the great Swiss naturalist’s most popular work, rather than his major contributions to philology, bibliography, botany and zoology for which he is best remembered today. The first part (originally published under the pseudonym of Euonymus Philiatrus because Gesner felt that it did not live up to his own exacting standards) was translated into English by Peter Morwen as The treasure of Euonymus (). The book is lavishly illustrated and is perhaps the best illustrated English technical treatise of the sixteenth-century – certainly in the field of chemistry. Compared with the woodcuts in the original ‘the English copies are larger, include a spatial setting, however rudimentary, and often add human figures, some in contemporary middle-class dress’ (Luborsky and Ingram). In addition to the cuts copied and adapted from the original edition, there are two small cuts from Part I (copied from the Lyon edition), several from Biringuccio’s De la pirotechnia (Venice ); and four full-page cuts on the divisional titles are based on engravings in Thurneisser, Quinta essentia, (Munster ). All but two cuts were re-used in the reprint, but apart from this and a single cut used by Byneman in a publication of , this remarkable series of woodcuts was not used again. Hans Wellisch, ‘Conrad Gessner: a bio-bibliography’, Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History () –.
¯ ZALI¯, Abu¯ H AL-GHA . amı¯d (–) Logica et philosophia Algazelis Arabis. [Colophon:] ingenio et impensis Petri Liechtensteyn Coloniensis anno virginei partus. . Idibus februariis sub hemispherio Veneto. Venice: Peter Liechtenstein, . to: a b c–g h, unnumbered leaves. Gothic letter in double columns with shoulder notes. Woodcut initials on a and c. A few geometric diagrams in the text. x mm. A few spots, a fine fresh and clean copy. Binding: Nineteenth-century calf backed boards. Joints cracked, spine almost detached. First edition, a translation by D. Gundislavus of the first parts of the Maqasid al-falasifah. ; Adams G.
Maqas. id al-falasifah, ‘The Aims of Philosophers’, is an early work in which alGhaza¯lı¯ presents the basic theories of philosophy, based on Avicenna. It thus sets out the ground work for his sceptical Tahafut al-Falasifa, ‘The Incoherence of the Philosophers’. Al-Ghaza¯lı¯, a Persian theologian and philosopher who taught in Baghdad, is considered a pioneer of the methods of doubt and scepticism, changing the course of early Islamic philosophy. His works were a major influence on Western medieval philosophy, especially through Thomas Aquinas who studied his works at the university of Naples. It has also been suggested that Descartes, in the Discours de la Méthode took ideas from al-Ghaza¯lı¯ (Najm). This seems to have been the first of al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s works to be translated and published in the West. The Tahafut al-Falasifa was first published as Subtilissimus liber Averois, qui dicitur Destructio Destructionum philosophiae Algazelis (Venice, ). Sami M. Najm, ‘The Place and Function of Doubt in the Philosophies of Descartes and al-Ghaza¯lı¯’ Philosophy East and West (), –.
GUY DE CHAULIAC or GUIDO DE CAULIACO (c. –c. ) Chirurgia. [A] Cyrurgia Guidonis de cauliaco. Et Cyrurgia Bruni. Theodorici Rogerii Rolandi Bertapalie Lanfranci. [GGr] Venetiis Imp[re]ssaru[m] ma[n]dato et exp[r]esis nobilis viri d[omi]ni Octaviani Scoti civis Modoetie[n]sis cura et ante Bonet Locatelli Bergom[e]nsis. Anno a salustero virginali partu. Millesimo q[ua]drige[n]tesimo nonagesimo octavo. undecimo kale[n]das Decembres. Venice: Bonetus Locatellus, for Octavianus Scotus, November , . Folio: A–Z & ? , AA–FF GG (–GG blank), of leaves, ff. . Gothic letter, lines in double columns, woodcut initials, printer’s device on GGv. text illustrations, mostly simple diagrams but including one of a skull on f. , three of instruments on f. and fourteen on f. . x mm. A few worm holes running through the text; blank corners of U– cut out to remove a stain; some waterstaining and soiling but mostly near the beginning and end and much of the book clean and fresh. Binding: Contemporary vellum boards, traces of ties. Old repair to head of spine Provenance: Three contemporary or early inscriptions on A: . ‘Georgius f[ilius] d.mi lanzeloti de colleris aromatarius i[n] darffo’. . ‘Questo libro sie de io fr. bernardino de Forno mi fu donato del e trentase [i.e. ] in cremona da miser antonio de iseo’; . ‘Ex libris Lucii de Ricobellis’. Another inscription on final leaf ‘Questo libro sie
de Gorg de Celeri spizier i[n] darffo’. About words of contemporary annotation and pointing fists in the margins. First edition in the original Latin (French and Italian translations had been printed in and ). Goff G; ISTC ig; Klebs .; BMC V ; GW ; Walsh ; Rhodes (Oxford Colleges) . The most important surgical text of the middle ages, written around in Latin and immediately translated into French and other European languages. ‘The importance of the Chirurgia lies not in its description of technical advances but in its systematization of surgery and its recognition of the responsibilities of the surgeon and the needs of his patients, which have not changed in the six hundred years since the work was written.... The Chirurgia is one of the landmarks in the history of surgery... it represented the most complete compilation of surgical material prepared to that date, and it remained authoritative in Western medicine until the seventeenth century.’ (Grolier Medicine , citing the French, , and Italian, , editions). Guy de Chauliac studied at Toulouse, Montpellier and Bologna; he was physician to successive popes in exile at Avignon where he met Petrarch. Besides Guy’s Chirurgia this edition includes: Brunus Longoburgensis, Chirurgia magna et minor; Bonaventura de Castello, Recepta aquae balnei de Porrecta; Theodoricus Cerviensis, Chirurgia; Rolandus, Libellus de chirurgia; Lanfrancus Mediolanensis, Chirurgia; Rogerius, Practica; Leonardus Bertapalia, Recollectae super quarto libro Avicennae. Sarton III, pp. –.
GUY DE CHAULIAC (c. –c. ) In arte medica exercitatissimi chirurgia, nunc iterum non mediocri studio atq[ue] diligentia à pluribus mendis purgata: cum duplici dictionum & rerum indice per se plurimum significantium per ordinem alphabeticum digesto. Lugduni, apud haeredes Jacobi Iuntae. M.D.LIX. Lyon: heirs of Jacques Giunta, . vo: a–z A–O, leaves, pp. [] . Roman letter with Italic headings. Woodcut printer’s device on title, woodcut initials. x mm. Some headlines cropped, a few shoulder notes shaved, light waterstains throughout. Binding: Seventeenth-century (Italian?) vellum with ties, red and blue mottled page edges. Provenance: Walter Pagel’s signature, undated, on pastedown. First and only edition of this recension? The edition was shared and two other title page variants exist, one with the imprint of Sebastian de Honoratis, the other with that of Gaspar de Portanariis. Baudrier VI, p. ; Gültlingen IV, Giunta .
¯ SI¯, ‘Alı¯ ibn ‘Abba¯s, (d. ) HALY ABBAS – AL-MAJU Liber totius medicine necessaria continens quem sapientissimus Haly filius abbas discipulus abimeher moysi filii seiar edidit: regi[que] inscripsit unde et regalis dispositionis nomen assumpsit. Et a stephano philosophie discipulo ex arabica lingua in Latinam satis ornatam reductus. Necnon a domino michaele de capella artis et medicine doctore fecundis sinonimis a multis et diversis autoribus ab eo collectis illustrat[us] sum[m]aq[u]e c[um] dilige[n]tia impressus, . [Colophon:] Lugduni typis Jacobi myt exacte impressus fuit Anno domini millesimo quingentesima xxiii. die vero. xviii.mensis martii. Lyon: Jacob Myt, . to: ✠ a b c–z & ? # A–O (blank O), leaves, ff. [] – []. Gothic letter in double columns. Title printed in red within an elaborate woodcut border, several lines printed in red on ✠v, ✠r and ar. Woodcut initials. x mm. Title soiled and inked over in places; short tears in margin of next leaf repaired; paper flaw in corner of x affecting a few letters; a few headlines shaved; several gatherings lightly browned. Overall a good copy. Binding: Seventeenth-century sprinkled calf, gilt spine, red sprinkled edges. Worn, front free endleaf removed. Provenance: A few words of contemporary annotation. Nineteenthcentury inscription ‘Ex libris [undeciphered]’ on verso of title. Second edition (first, Venice ). Adams A; Bird ; Durling ; Gültlingen II, Myt . The al-Malı¯ki, or Liber regius, of al-Maju¯sı¯ was the leading treatise of medicine for a hundred years, when it was displaced by ibn Sı¯na¯’s Canon (Garrison– Morton , citing the edition). According to Sarton it is ‘more systematic and concise than Ra¯zı¯’s Ha¯wı¯, but more practical than ibn Sı¯na¯’s Qanun, by which it was superseded’. Dealing with both the theory and practice of medicine, Sarton says the best parts are those devoted to dietetics and the materia medica. He also notes al-Maju¯sı¯’s rudimentary conception of the capillary system; interesting clinical observations; and ‘proof of the motions of the womb during parturition (the child does not come out; it is pushed out)’. The first edition, Venice , is based on the translation by Stephen of Antioch, completed in ; the same translation is used here, with annotations by Michael de Capella. An earlier translation by Constantine of Africa was published in part in Constantine’s works (Basle ) and in part by Julius Pagel in . Sarton, I, p. .
HARNISCH, Anthonius Tractatulus de complexionibus ex phisicis sumptus principiis. [No imprint or colophon]. Leipzig: Martin Landsberg, printer identified by device, date from foreword, . to, A, leaves unpaginated. Gothic letter, spaces for initials, text ends on Ar with printer’s device, verso blank. x . Slight discolouration. A good copy with wide margins. Binding: Recent cloth. First edition. Bird ; H. An astrological–medical treatise on complexion, that is the combination of the four humours controlling the temperament and the constitution of the body. From his dedicatory epistle addressed to Johann Hummel, we learn that the author was from Friburg, but nothing else seems to be known about him.
HERBARIUS, Italian Herbolario volgare, nel quale le virtu de le herbe, & molti altri simplici se dechiarano, con alcune belle aggionte nouame[n]te di latino in volgare tradutto. [Colophon:] per Gioanni Andrea Vauassore detto Guadagnino et fratelli. Nel anno. . Adi. . Novembrio. Venice: Giovanni Adrea Valvassore detto Guadagnino et fratelli, . vo: aa A–X, Y, leaves, ff.[], Cap. –, ff. []. Gothic letter. Woodcut initials, woodcut printer’s device on last leaf, verso blank; woodcut of saints on title, full page woodcut of the Madonna and Child with musicians on aav; and three-quarter page text woodcuts. x mm. Leaves D, M, O and R supplied from another copy and remargined; titlepage worn and soiled; the rest of the book waterstained and with some soiling but still fresh. Binding: Late nineteenth-century half vellum. Provenance: About words of contemporary annotation. Walter Pagel’s signature on pastedown. Third edition in Italian of the Latin Herbarius of (first Italian edition, Venice , second ; there were another sixteenthcentury editions). ; Hunt ; Klebs–Becher ; Nissen . The Latin Herbarius, first printed in , was the prototype of all the herbals printed in the fifteenth and the first part of the sixteenth centuries. It is an anonymous compilation of classical and Arabic authors describing and illustrating plants in the first part, and the drugs derived from them in the second.
This rare Italian edition is a new translation, different from that of , and illustrated with a new series of woodcuts. These were not used again in any other publication, though they were copied for the and three following editions of the Herbarius in Italian. In all the Italian editions the traditional chapter , on Matricaria, is replaced by a chapter on honey, and a new chapter numbered , on wine and vinegar, has been added.
HIPPOCRATES (?–? B.C.) Aphorismi. De natura humana. De flatibus. Praesagia. De ratione victus. Galeni ars medicinalis. Parisiis apud Simone Colinaeum. Paris: Simon de Colines, . mo: a–z & (blank &), leaves, ff. – []. Roman letter, some Greek in shoulder notes. Criblé and outline woodcut initials. x mm. A few shoulder notes shaved; somewhat soiled, especially the title and prelims, waterstained, worming in inner margins. Binding: Nineteenth-century vellum boards. Provenance: Extensive contemporary or early annotations on the first dozen pages of the Aphorisms, on a few pages later in the book and on pages of blank leaves bound at the end. Signature W. Mortimer Clark on free endleaf. Later editions. Durling ; Bruni Celli . An attractive shirt-pocket edition of Hippocrates’ Aphorisms and other texts. Colines had published all the texts in similarly diminutive volumes in and (Renouard pp. and ). This collected edition seems to have been unknown to Renouard but seems to be identical to Colines edition (Renourad pp. –). The Aphorismi and Techne iatrike is translated by Niccolò Leoniceno; De natura humana by Andrea Brenta; De flatibus by Constantino Lascaris; Praesagia and De ratione victus by Gulielmus Copus.
HORTUS SANITATIS Gart der gesuntheit Zu latein hortus sanitatis. Sagt in vier Bücheren wie hernach volget. Von [brace] Im Ersten. Vierfüßsigen und Krichenden. Im Anderen. Vöglen und den Fliegenden. Im Dritten Vischen und Schwimmenden. Im Vierden. Dem Edlen Gesteyn und allem so in den Aderen der erden wachsen ist... item ein new Register, zeigt klärlich an die Artzneien zu allerlei kranckheiten... Getruckt zu Straßburg bei Mathia Apiario nach Christi geburt M. D. XXXVI jar. [Colophon:] Gedruckt und volender zu Straßburg durch Mathiam Apiarium, nach Christi geburt im M D xxxvi. jar. Strasbourg: Matthias Apiarius, .
Folio: a–z A B (blanks and B), leaves, ff. [] []. Gothic letter. Title printed in red and black within a woodcut border, woodcut printer’s device on Bv. woodcut illustrations, including repeats. x mm. Corner of c torn away with loss of several words from the end of lines; clean tear in p. through text and illustration repaired; a number of marginal tears, some reparied; light waterstains towards the end; soiled from heavy use throughout. None-the-less a reasonably fresh copy with good margins. Binding: Recent calf, red painted and gauffered edges from a former binding. Provenance: From the gauffering it appears that this work was formerly bound with, or formed a companion to, nos , and . Early signature, undeciphered, on Bv. Later edition. H; Muller p. , Apiarius . Not in Ritter or Benzing; Nissen . An unusual Hortus Sanitatis edition devoted to the world of animals and minerals and their medicinal products. In other words there are no plants in this garden, but far more illustrations of birds, reptiles, mammals, fish and minerals than are found elswhere in the Hortus Sanitatis literature. The illustrations are somewhat stylised but the attitudes of the animals are often vivid and characteristic – at least so far as we know (there are many mythical creatures for whose attitudes we can only take the artist’s view on trust). In the mineralogy section a number show jewellers at work or selling their wares. The cuts were apparently made for this edition, published simultaneously with a Latin edition using the same blocks. Some illustrations showing workers engaged in their trades in outdoor or indoor scenes are made up of two, or in some case three blocks which could be rearranged to make different pictures. This technique was used by another Strasbourg printer, Johann Grüninger.
HUTTEN, Ulrich von (–) De guaiaci medicina et morbo gallico liber unus. [Colophon:] Impressum Bononiae per Hieronymum de Benedictis procurante Carpo, Anno Virginei Patus. M. D. XXI. quarta Aprilis. Bologna: Girolamo Benedetti for Berengario da Carpi, . to: a–k (-k blank), of leaves, ff. XXXIX. Roman letter. Title within a woodcut border -line woodcut initial on av. x mm. Title leaf soiled and restored with insignificant loss to woodcut; corner of c restored, some isolated spots; otherwise a large and fresh copy. Binding: Recent vellum boards. Provenance: Seven words of contemporary annotation. Walter Pagel’s signature on pastedown.
Third edition (first, Mainz , second Paris same year); the Mainz edition was reprinted in and there were several later editions. ¾ ; Durling ; Putti IV p. . Hutten’s short treatise on the use of oil of guaiac as a treatment for syphilis, in the form of an exchange of letters between Paul Ricius and the author and a postscript by Wofgang Angst. This edition was printed for Berengario da Carpi who is credited with introducing the use of mercury in treating syphilis. It contains a postscript by Berengario in which he commends Hutten’s classical style (Osler ). Putti discusses reasons for Berengario’s interest in the text (pp. –). The fine woodcut titlepage border was also used by Benedetti for Berengario’s Commentaria ... super Anatomiam Mundini printed in March of the same year. It incorporates the arms of Pope Leo X to whom the Commentaria was dedicated, and a dissection scene (Wolf- Heidegge no. ). Putti, Vittorio, Berengario da Carpi; saggio biografico e bibliografico, seguito dalla traduzione del “De fractura calvae sive cranei” (); Gerhard Wolf-Heidegger, Die anatomische Sektion in bildlicher Darstellung ().
IAMBLICHUS, (c. –c. ); Marsilio FICINO (–) De mysteriis Aegyptiorum [and other works]. [Colophon:] Venetiis mense Septembri. M.IIID. In aedibus Aldi. Venice: Aldus Manutius, . Folio: a–i K L–M N–Z & (–&, blank), of un-numbered leaves, wanting the final blank leaf. Roman letter, initial spaces with guide letters. x mm. Title worn and soiled with a tear affecting several letters; multiple wormholes and tracks throughout affecting the text on many leaves; waterstains in first gatherings; inner margins strengthened throughout and some repairs to worm tracks. Otherwise a fresh copy with good margins. Binding: Resewn and bound in recent vellum backed boards. Provenance: Old owner’s stamp on first leaf. First edition. In this copy a is correctly signed and the mis-spelling ‘abente’ on Kr corrected to ‘absente’. Goff J-; Klebs .; ISTC ij; BSB-Ink I-; Bod-inc J-; BMC V, ; Walsh – ; Renouard, Alde p. , no. ; Wellcome . An important collection of neo-platonic works translated and adapted, some with commentaries, by Marsilio Ficino [see above no. ]. The edition comprises the following texts: Iamblichus, De mysteriis; Proclus, In Platonicum Alcibiadem; Proclus, De sacrificio et magia; Porphyrius, De occasionibus, de abstinentia, &c; Synesius De somniis; Psellus, De daemonibus; Priscianus et Marsilius, In Theophrastum De sensu, &c; Alcinous, De doctrina Platonis; Speusippus, De Platonis definitionibus; Pythagorae, Aurea verba et symbola; Xenocrates, De morte; Marilius, De voluptate.
Aldus’ fine typography – even among Aldus’ output, Renouard calls it a ‘rare et beau volume’ – is sadly disfigured by worming and unsympathetic repairs. For details of Ficino’s contributions, and references, see Alan Coates and others, A catalogue of books printed in the fifteenth century now in the Bodleian Library (), J-.
¯ N, (d. c. ) IBN BUT . LA Tacuini sanitatis Elluchasem Elimithar Medici de Baldath, De sex rebus non naturalibus, earum naturis, operationibus, & rectificationibus, publico omnium usui, conservandae sanitatis, recens exarati. Albengnefit De virtutibus medicinarum, & ciborum. Iac. Alkindus De rerum gradibus. apud Ioannem Schottum librarium. Cum praerogatiua Caes. Maiestatis ad sexennium. M. D. XXXI. Strasbourg: Johann Schott, . Folio: A–M, N–O, P (blank P), pp. , [] (last pages blank). Roman letter, titlepage and sigs D–K printed in red and black, woodcut initials on Ar, Kr and Mv, woodcut illustrations. First edition. Another state has the majority of the tables printed in black only, and some of the errata corrected. A German translation was published by Schott two years later (see below). M ; Ritter ; Muller p. , Schott ; Adams I; Bird ; Durling ; Manchester ; Waller ; Wellcome . Cleveland Herbal . Simon II, ; Vicaire –. [bound with:]
¯ ZI¯ , Abu¯ Bakr Muh. ammad ibn Zakarı¯ya¯ (?–?) RHAZES. AL-RA Liber nonus ad Almansorem (cum expositione Silani de Nigris). Add: Petrus de Tussignano: Receptae super nonum ad Almansorem. Venice: Otinus de Luna, Papiensis, July, . Folio, a–p (blank p), unnumbered leaves, gothic letter, lines in double columns, spaces for guide letters, unrubricated. Fourth edition of al-Ra¯zı¯’s, Liber nonus ad Almansorem with the commentary of Syllanus de Nigris (fl. ), and other texts. The Liber nonus was first published in , independently of the rest of the Liber ad Almansorem, ten books in all, first published complete in . Syallanus de Nigris’ commentary was first printed in . Goff R; BMC V, ; ISTC ir; Klebs .; BSB-Ink R-; Wellcome . x mm. I. Insignificant paper discolouration. A superb fresh and clean copy. II. Fore-edge of first leaf chipped; some light waterstains, a good fresh copy. Binding: Two books bound together in early sixteenth-century limp vellum. Manuscript fore-edge lettering. Hebrew manuscript on vellum
fragment used as a sewing guard at the front, plain vellum at the rear, traces of cloth ties, manuscript fore-edge lettering. Provenance: Walter Pagel’s signature dated . The Tacuini Sanitatis is an important work on diet and health, the first Arabic book on gastronomy printed in the Western world. It is illustrated with superb woodcuts by Hans Weiditz of foodstuffs and prepared dishes. Ibn But.la¯n’s work is printed with other Arabic health manuals, and in this copy bound in the sixteenth-century with a fifteenth-century edition of a health manual by the greatest of all the Arab physicians, al-Ra¯zı¯. All these works bring home forcibly the holistic approach to health in the middle ages, and what now seems so modern, the insistence on the benefits to health not just of diet, but of mental health; of music, dance, singing and games; of climate, the seasons, and geographical location. The Taqwı¯m al-s.ih. h. a, ‘tables of health’, is a medieval manual on health and diet compiled by the eleventh-century Christian physician Ibn But.la¯n, a native of Baghdad where he taught medicine and philosophy. The text is arranged in a series of tables so that the hazards and benefits of each object – whether it be a foodstuff or a life-style choice – can be quickly found. There are forty tables of seven items arranged vertically; horizontally the tables are divided into fifteen domus or criteria, such as the as the nature, benefit, or harm of each item. General dietetic information on food and drink from a sixteenth domus precedes the forty tables. In the introduction, Ibn But.la¯n names the six nonnatural causes of sickness and health, traditionally part of Regimen sanitatis literature: air; food and drink; exercise and rest; sleeping and waking; repletion and excretion; and emotional well-being. The first thirty tables, three-quarters of the work, are devoted to foodstuffs, and between one and four tables each to the remaining five non-naturals. The illustrations. The woodcuts are generally accepted as the work of Hans Weiditz the younger (born before , died c. ), the son of a sculptor of the same name and one of the best German woodcut artists of his generation. He is celebrated for the unprecedented naturalism of his botanical illustrations in Brunfels’ Herbarum vivae eicones published by Johannes Schott the year after he printed this edition of the Tacuini sanitatis. Here, every opening of the main work has at the bottom a frieze of small illustrations (usually seven) to the text above, some show foodstuffs, others human figures in sickness and health. The foodstuffs include plants, fruits, animals, butcher’s meat and many prepared
dishes. Men and women are shown pursuing healthy activities and in the sickroom. All the subjects noted above are illustrated, so that three-quarters of the illustrations relate to foodstuffs, and as each frieze contains seven images, there are over illustrations of ingredients and prepared dishes. The texts. Nine arabic manuscripts of the Taqwı¯m al-s. ih. h. a survive. It was translated into Latin in the thirteenth century by an anonymous translator, probably at the court of Manfred of Sicily in Palermo and a number of manuscripts of the Latin translation survive, the earliest from the thirteenth century, but it was not printed until this edition was produced in Strasbourg in . To make a more substantial book, the publisher, Johannes Schott, added Latin translations of two earlier Arabic works (both previously published) which complement in subject matter the main text. These are the work Ibn Wafid (Latinised Albengnefit, th-century) advocating the treatment of disease primarily by diet and secondarily by simple drugs; and a work on pharmacology by al-Kindı¯ (th-century), the foremost Arabic philosopher of his time who played a major role in making the ancient science and philosophy of the Greeks available to the Arab world. The copy. This very fine copy of this collection of works by three Arab writers is bound with an early edition of a work of Abu¯ Bakr Muh. ammad ibn Zakarı¯ya¯ al-Ra¯zı¯ (Latinised Rhazes or Rhases, –). Al-Ra¯zı¯ was chief physician at the hospital in Baghdad and ranks with Hippocrates and Galen as one of the founders of clinical medicine. The Liber nonus ad Almansorem is the ninth book of his Liber ad Almansorem (addressed to prince Almansor) and is a popular treatise on pathology and therapeutics, complementing therefore the work of the Arab physicians published by Schott in . Johnston, Stanley H. The Cleveland herbal, (Kent, OH, ); Heinrich Röttinger, Hans Weiditz der Petrarkameister (), p. and no. .
¯ N, (d. c. ) IBN BUT . LA Schachtafelen der Gesuntheyt I Erstlich, Durch bewarung der Sechs neben Natürlichen ding... II Züm Anderen, durch erkantnussz, cur, und hynlegung Aller Kranckheyten menschlichs züfalls... III Zum Dritten. Aller lxxxiiij. Tafelen sonderlich Regelbüch angehenckt, in gemeyn, und yeder dyenstlich. Vormals nye gesehen... newlich ußgangen unnd verteütscht Durch D. Michael Hero Leibartzt zü Strasszburg... Getruckt durch Hans Schotten züm Thyergarten. M. D. xxxiij. Strasbourg: Johann Schott, . Folio: A B–I K L–H I, leaves, pp. [], lxxxj [] lxxxij–cclij [] (last page blank). Gothic letter. Woodcut initials and head and tail
pieces. woodcut illustrations, woodcut city arms and a threequarter page woodcut on p. clxx. x mm. Titlepage frayed and restored in margins; single wormhole through text to sig. z; annotation on p. cxcix erased leaving a hole. A few stains. Soiled throughout from heavy use. Binding: Recent calf with remains of pigskin sides from a former binding laid down, medallion portrait of a bearded man on upper cover, arms on lower cover, red painted and gauffered edges. Provenance: From the gauffering it appears that this work was formerly bound with, or formed a companion to, nos , and . About words of early annotation; inscription on front pastedown (from former binding), undeciphered but dated . First German edition (first edition, in Latin, ). M; Ritter ; Muller p. , Schott ; Röttinger ; Durling ; Wellcome . A German version of Ibn But.la¯n’s Taqwı¯m al-s. ih. h. a (and other texts) from Schott’s Latin edition, Tacuini sanitatis () – including all the Weiditz woodcuts – followed by versions of the Taqwı¯m al-abda¯n fı¯ tadbı¯r al-insa¯n of Yah. ya¯ ibn ‘Isa¯ , Ibn Jazlah (Durling).
ISIDORE OF SEVILLE, Saint (d. ) Etymologiae. Add: de summo bono [πv:] Registru[m] iu [sic] libros etymologiaru[m] Sancti Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi. [ar:] Incipit epistola. [Ar:] Incipit... de su[m]mo bono. [Colophon:] Impressus Venetiis per Petru[m] lostein de Langencen[ensis]. M.cccc.lxxxiii. Venice: Peter Löslein, . Folio: π a–h I k χ A–B C (blank a; a– signed a–), leaves, ff. [] [] . Gothic letter, initial spaces with guide letters. Full page woodcut on f. v and small woodcut diagrams on other leaves. x mm. Wormholes in blank margins in the last leaves; light waterstains in upper margins of first leaves; scattered light foxing; owner’s stamp erased from first initial space on ar. A superb large and fresh copy. Binding: Contemporary Italian blind stamped calf over wooden boards, the sides panelled with roll stamps and single tools, diaper ruled spine with raised bands, brass clasps and catches. Old repairs to head and tail of spine and corners, one corner chipped, some abrasions to sides and several worm holes; one clasp replaced, the other missing. Provenance: Owner’s stamp erased from a. Seven words of early annotation. Walter Pagel’s signature on pastedown. Fourth edition (first, Strasbourg, ). Goff I -; ISTC ii; BMC V, ; BSB-Ink I-; Bod-inc I-; Klebs ..
The first great medieval encyclopedia, an epitome of all learning. It was the most popular compendium in medievel libraries and was printed in eight editions between and . ‘His main work is the “Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX,” written probably between and ; an encyclopaedia based upon classical authors, chiefly grammarians, and even more upon patristic literature. It served as a model for later encyclopaedias and its influence upon mediaeval thought was very great. Poor as the Origines are, they reveal a genuine interest in science, independently from theology.’ (Sarton.) ‘The Etymologiae, an encyclopaedic work, presents the sum of contemporary knowledge on all branches of science. Book IV affords a survey of the entire range of medicine.’ (Garrison–Morton , edition). ‘... the Etymologiae or Origines... briefly defines or discusses terms drawn from all aspects of human knowledge and is based ultimately on late Latin compendia and gloss collections. The books of greatest scientific interest deal with mathematics, astronomy, medicine, human anatomy, zoology, geography, meteorology, geology, mineralogy, botany, and agriculture... he wrote nothing original... but his influence in the Middle Ages and Renaissance was great, and he remains an interesting and often authoritative source for Latin lexicography, particularly in technical, scientific, and nonliterary fields.’ (William D. Sharpe, DSB :). Isidore was educated by his elder brother Leander and in monastery schools. He succeeded Leander as bishop of Seville and Catholic primate of Spain in . He was much concerned with the reformation of church discipline and with the establishment of schools. Besides the Etymologiae he wrote De natura rerum and numerous works on Scripture, canon law, systematic theology, liturgy, general and Spanish history and ascetics. There is a woodcut tree of tree of knowledge f. v and the famous world map on f. v – in this was the first map ever printed. Sarton I, pp. –.
¯ Q IBN SULAYMA ¯ N al-ISRA’I¯LI¯ ISRAELI, Isaac, the elder – ISH .A (c. –c. ) Omnia opera ysaac... cum quibusdam aliis opusculis. [Colophon:] Curauit ea imprimi honest[us] vir Bartholomeus Trot bibliopola Lugdunen[sis]. Extrema man[us] apposita fuit anno D[omi]ni. xv. supra. M. mense Decembri: in lugdunen[sem]. emporio in officina probi viri Johannis de Platea chalcographi. Lyon: Jean de La Place for Barthlémy Trot, . Folio: a–z & # ? A B a; A–B C A (–A, presumably blank), of leaves, ff. []; []. Gothic letter in double columns. a and A (–A) at the end of each part are indexes, not included in the registers printed on Bv and Cr. Title printed in red and black and with a large woodcut ( x mm); woodcut initials in several sizes.
x mm. Titlepage soiled and worn with slight damage to type and woodcut; small worm hole through text in first leaves, other wormholes in the margins; uniformly browned throughout. Binding: Eighteenth-century vellum boards. Small hole in vellum on spine and fore edges of boards, worn. Provenance: A few contemporary annotations. First complete edition. The ‘Tractatus de particularibus dietatis’ was first printed in . Adams I; Baudrier VIII, p. ; Gültlingen II, La Place ; Durling (not including indexes in foliation). Among the medical works, the Book on Fevers and the Book on Urine were highly regarded textbooks. Sarton calls the latter ‘by far the most elaborate mediaeval treatise on the subject’. The Treatise on diet, the only text in print before this edition of Isaac’s works, was the first separately printed work on the subject (Garrison–Morton ). Of Isaac’s philosophical works, the Book of Definitions and Descriptions, largely based on al-Kı¯ndı¯, was widely used by the Schoolmen in Gerard of Cremona’s Latin version (Stern). The ‘hearing’ of a text by Isaac was a requirement of Cambridge students according to the statutes of (Stillwell). Isaac Israeli or Judaeus, ‘one of the greatest physicians of Western Islam’ (Stillwell) was ‘one of the first to direct the Jews to Greek science and philosophy... he composed many medical writings in Arabic. Translated into Latin in by Constantine of Africa, into Hebrew, and into Sapanish, their influence was very great... Isaac was the earliest Jewish philosopher (or one of the earliest) to publish a classification of the sciences. This was essentially the Aristotelian one as transmitted and modified by the Muslims.’ (Sarton.) The Pantegni and Viaticum here ascribed to Isaac are free Latin versions by Constantinus Africanus of the Kita¯b ab-Malikı¯ of Alı¯ ibn al-‘Abba¯s and the Zad al-musa¯fir of Ahmad ibn Ibra¯hı¯m, called ibn al-Jazza¯r, respectively. The Liber de oculis is also a translation by Constantinus, of the Kita¯b al-‘ashr maka¯la¯t fi’l-‘ain, of H . unain ibn Isha¯k, al-‘Iba¯dı¯. (Durling.) Sarton I, pp. –; Stillwell ; S. M. Stern, DSB , pp. –.
LA RIVIERE, Roch le Baillif, sieur de (d. ) Le demosterion... Auquel sont contenuz trois cens aphorismes latins & françois. Sommaire veritable de la medecine paracelsique, extraicte de luy en la plus part... A Rennes, pour Pierre le Bret marchant Libraire, demeurant audict liu pres la porte S. Michel. . Avec privilege du Roy. [Imprint on first table:] Excudebat Jul. Closeus Typographus Rhed. ]. Rennes: Julian du Clos for Pierre le Bret, . to: a˜ e˜ A–M N O P–Z a (blank a), leaves, pp. [] – [i.e. ], ff. – [i.e. ], pp. – (with many errors in numbering); plus folding printed tables, one in circular form. Roman and Italic letter. Woodcut printer’s device on title, woodcut initials and headpieces and a three-quarter page palmistry woodcut on p. .
x mm. Paper flaw in a˜ with loss of a few letters; worming in text in the last gatherings; light foxing and browning, sig. H more heavily browned. Binding: Nineteenth-century half sheep, vellum corners. Worn. Provenance: Nineteenth-century owner’s notes on endleaf. First edition. Sudhoff, Paracelsus pp. –; Durling (imperfect); Wellcome . ‘Known as the sieur de la Rivière, Roch le Baillif was a native of Normandy. In he published a short summary of Paracelsian medicine, Le demosterion, in which he praised the still living Adam of Bodenstein, Gerhard Dorn, and Pierre Hassard and listed a series of certain cures discovered by the chemists, including leprosy, dropsy, paralysis, and gout. He was aware of his alchemical heritage and listed famous masters of the art down through history to Jacques Gohory. ‘Those who seek certainty, he said, should turn not to Galen but to Paracelsus, because his is the true medicine and “Science is the creation of God, and is therefore certain and true.” Here “medicine” is printed in the margin to indicate to the reader that “Science” is the true medicine... Most of Le demosterion is composed of three hundred aphorisms, which offer a short compendium of Paracelsian dogma, and the remainder of the book is devoted to tracts on chiromancy, conjuration, the baths of Brittany, and a lexicon of Paracelsian terms.’ (Debus.) Roche le Baillif, something of a charlatan who claimed a medical degree from the University of Rennes which he did not have, has traditionally been conflated with the Sieur de la Rivière, premier médecin of Henri IV from to his death in . Both were Huguenots and Paracelsians. Their separate identities are untangled by Trevor-Roper. Hugh Trevor-Roper, ‘The Sieur de la Rivière, Paracelsian Physician of Henry IV’, in Alan G. Debus, ed., Science and Society in the Renaissance. Essays to Honor Walter Pagel, () ii, –; Alan G. Debus, The French Paracelsians () pp. –; Hervé Baudry, Contribution à l’étude du paracelsisme en France au XVIe siècle (): de la naissance du mouvement aux années de maturité: Le demosterion de Roch Le Baillif () ().
LACINIO, Giano, ed. Pretiosa margarita novella de thesauro, ac pretiosissimo philosophorum lapide Artis huius divinae typus, & methodus: collectanea ex Arnaldo, Rhaymundo, Thasi, Alberto, & Michaele Scoto... [Colophon:] Venetiis, apud Aldi filios. M. D. XXXXVI. Venice: heirs of Aldus Manutius, . vo, *–* * A–C D, leaves, ff. [] []. Italic letter with Roman headings, initial spaces with guide letters. Woodcut printer’s device on title and verso of last leaf. woodcut illustrations in prelims, one full page. xmm. Titlepage dustsoiled and with a name inked out and partially erased.
Binding: Eighteenth-century red morocco, gilt panelled sides, gilt spine, marbled endleaves, gilt page edges. Sometime rebacked with the original spine preserved but very cracked and worn, corners bumped and worn. Provenance: Early initials ‘E. P.’ on endleaf. First edition of this collection. A second edition was published at Nuremberg in (see below), and this Aldine edition was re-issued in by Giordano Ziletti with the first gathering re-set; there were also editions in , and . ; Renouard, Alde p. no. ; Durling ; Wellcome ; Duveen ; Ferguson II, p. . This collection of alchemical writings includes the first edition of the Pretiosa margarita novella, ‘The precious new pearl,’ supposed to have been written in Istria in by Pietro Buono whose real identity is obscure. John Read in his Prelude to Chemistry () gives the following account of the book and its striking woodcuts. ‘This is one of the early printed works on alchemy, and it was issued from the Aldine press with the sanction of Pope Paul III and the Venetian Senate. It is now very difficult to find a copy of this work, partly on account of the beauty of is typography, which has attracted the notice of connoisseurs; but, beyond this, it was greatly prized by the adepts as a helpful compendium of alchemical knowledge. Renouard remarks that this rare work almost always occurs in a dilapidated condition, since it was so subject to accidents near the furnaces of the adepts, among whom it was a great favourite....The New Pearl is a version of an introduction to alchemy written by Petrus Bonus of Pola in , and edited more than two hundred years later for the Aldine press by Janus Lacinius of Calabria. It consists mainly of quotations from earlier works, and thus affords a valuable guide to the influence of the older alchemists on fourteenth-century alchemy... Altogether, the New Pearl is a completely uncritical justification of alchemy, the arguments for and against it, the nature of metals, the nature and operation of the Philosopher’s stone, and many other alchemical ideas, as culled from the reputed writings of Arnold of Villanova, Raymond Lully, Rhazes, Albertus Magnus, Michael Scot, and other authors whose names do not accompany the foregoing on the title-page.... ‘This book contains some remarkable allegorical woodcuts. One of them offers an emblematic illustration of the four elements of Aristotle, in which earth, water, air and fire are represented by a bear, a dragon a bird, and an angel, respectively. Fourteen other woodcuts delineate an allegorical exposition of the various stages in the process of transmutation. A crowned king (gold) is approached by his son (mercury) and his five servants (silver, copper, iron, tin and lead), who beseech him to change them into kings also. The king maintains a diplomatic silence, whereupon he is killed by mercury. After passing through a series of remarkable vicissitudes, representing alchemical operations, the king rises from the dead and is at last able to accede to the original petition. The final woodcut shows a royal flush of crowned kings, from which, however, there is an unexplained absentee – possibly lead, which was always regarded with a certain amount of suspicion in alchemical circles.’ (Read.) Thorndike III, pp. –; John Read, Prelude to chemistry (), pp. –.
LACINIO, Giano, ed. Praeciosa ac nobilissima artis chymiae collectanea de occultissimo ac praeciosissimo philosophorum lapide... nunc primum in lucem aedita cum totius capitum indice. Norimbergae apud Gabrielem Hayn, Joann-Petri generum. M.D.LIIII. Nuremberg: Gabriel Hain, . to: a–b A–H, leaves, ff. [] . Roman letter. Woodcut printer’s device on title, woodcut initials, and a large woodcut on bv with decorative cuts above and below. x mm. Titlepage soiled; leaves, sigs H–M soiled and remargined. Binding: Recent quarter morocco. Provenance: Signature ‘Geor: Eckert [?]’ on title and words of annotation in the same hand in the margins and lines on the verso of the last leaf in another hand; the marginal annotations shaved, further annotations lost on remargined leaves. Second edition, but very different from the first edition (, see above). L; Wellcome ; Duveen p. . ‘This collection seems to differ considerably from the edition. Only the last book can be clearly recognised, as it repeats with a few alterations ff. – of the edition.’ (Duveen.)
LEONICO TOMEO, Niccolò (?–?) Opuscula nuper in lucem aedita... [Colophon:] Opusculorum hoc ex impressione repraesentavit Bernadinus Vitalis Venetus Anno Domini. MCCCCCXXV. Die. xxiii. Februarii. Ex Venetiis. Venice: Bernadino Vitali, . to: a–b c d–z & ? # A–G H I (blank H), leaves, ff. CXXXIX []. Roman and Italic letter. Title printed in red and black within a woodcut border composed of blocks, several series of decorated and historiated initials, woodcut pointing fists and stylised foliage printed in the margins. Woodcut diagrams printed in the text. [bound with:]
Dialogi nunc primum in lucem editi... [Colophon:] Venetiis in aedibus Gregorii de Gregoriis. Mense septembri. M. D. XXIIII. Venice: Gregorio de Gregori, . to: a–z (blank z), leaves, ff. XC []. Italic letter with Roman headlines. x mm. Sig. I of the first work, an extensive errata list, evidently printed on inferior paper and heavily browned. Fine fresh and clean copies.
Binding: Contemporary Venetian blind stamped brown morocco, traces of ties, green edges, MS lettering ‘Mechanice \ Arist’ on lower edges, later label and place and date added at foot of spine. Joints and corners repaired. Provenance: Contemporary signature‘Io: Ant Rossenius’ on title; small nineteenth-century book label of Jacobi Manzoni; bookplate of Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt (–), physican, inventor of the clinical thermometer and a source for the character of Lydgate in George Eliot’s Middlemarch; Dawsons of Pall Mall cost code. First editions. Reprinted in a collective volume in . and ; Adams L and ; Opuscula only: Durling ; Wellcome . The Opuscula is a collection of commentaries on Aristotle’s De animalium motu, De animalium incessu, and Mechanica (with the text), and an extract from Proclus’ commentary on Plato’s Timaeus. The most important to an early owner was apparently the Mechanica as this is the title used to identify the volume lettered on the lower page edges. The Mechanica has woodcut diagrams illustrating mechanical principles: remarkably, the lever is illustrated by a pair of dental forceps. The other tracts in the Opuscula are on animal motion; and the physiology of sex, considered both physically and psychologically. The dialogues in the second work are as follows (as listed on the verso of the titlepage): Trophonius, sive, De divinatione; Bembus, sive, De animorum immortalitate; Alverotus, sive, De tribus animorum vehiculis; Peripateticus, sive, De nominum inventione; Sannutus, sive, De compescendo luctu; Severinus, sive, De relativorum natura; Sadoletus, sive De precibus; Phoebus, sive, De aetatum moribus; Bonominus, sive, De Alica; Sannutus, sive, De ludo talario. Niccolò Leonico Tomeo was born in Venice and studied in Padua. He is credited with giving the first formal lectures on Plato at Padua in , and from the Greek text rather than from a Latin translation. Beautifully printed with some fine initials, these two works were evidently bound together close to the time of printing in a typical Venetian binding of blind-stamped morocco. The binding is well preserved with only minor repairs and has an amusing nineteenth-century provenance having belonged to George Eliot’s Dr Lydgate. M. E. Ring, ‘The first picture of a dental forceps in a printed book’, Journal of the California Dental Association (), –.
LIBAVIUS, Andreas D. O. M. A. Alchemia... opera e dispersis passim optimorum autorum, veterum & recentium exemplis potissimum... in integrum corpus reacta. Accesserunt Tractatus nonnulli physici chymici, item methodice ab eodem autore explicatt, quorum titulos versa pagella exhibet... Francofurti excudabat Johannes Saurius, impensis Petri Kopffii, M. D. XCVII.
[Second part:] D. O. M. A. Commentationum metallicarum libri quatuor... M. D. XCVII. Frankfurt: Johann Sauer for Peter Kopf, . to: two parts, a–m (blank m); )( A–C, and leaves, pp. [] []; [] . Roman letter with passages in Italic. Woodcut printer’s devices on title and m, woodcut head and tailpieces. x mm. Rust holes in part , N and Bb affecting a few letters; light browning; a good fresh and clean copy. Binding: Contemporary blind-stamped pigskin, spine decoratively painted in red and green, MS title in top compartment, paper shelf label pasted over lower compartment, green edges. A little rubbed. Provenance: Contemporary inscription on title ‘Loci Capucinarum Monachii [Munich] ad usum pharmacopoeiae’. Walter Pagel’s signature dated . First edition. An enlarged edition was published in . L and L ; Bird ; Manchester p. ; Wellcome ; Partington II, p. ; cf. Ferguson II, p. (part I only in the Young Collection). The first systematic text book of chemistry. ‘Libavius’s Alchemia is an excellent practical text-book in the sense that the author shows a full mastery of his sources and a clear, concise and sensible style, entirely different from the rambling, bombastic, and obscure verbosity of Paracelsus or the alchemical authors’ (Partington II, p. ). ‘He was among the first to describe chemical actions in plain language, and he has the credit ascribed to him of writing the first real text-book. He attempted the analysis of mineral waters, and described several substances which he discovered.’ (Ferguson II, p. .) This is the rare first edition of Libavius’ Alchemia, as issued with the Commentationum metallicarum. The enlarged edition of was a folio, famous for its many illustrations, and there were several more commentaries and supplements. ‘The Alchymia is unusually clear and highly systematic. The same cannot be said of the commentaries and supplements (Wlodzimierz Hubicki, DSB :). A good and attractive copy used in the pharmacy of the Capucin monastry at Munich, and almost free of the browning which Partington says is usual.
LULL, Ramón (–c. ) Arbor scie[n]tie... cuius farrago & fructus admirabilis a tergo huius indicabitur & in cuius commendationes est hoc extemporaneu[m] Jodoci Badii Ascensii ad pium lectorem epigra[m]ma [poem]. Venales habentur Lugdun[i] in vico mercuriali apud cenobiu[m]: p[re]dicatoru[m] vulgo nostro domine de confort: in domo Francisi fradin impressoris. [Colophon:] Lugd. opera Gilberti de villiers. Impe[n]sis [domin]o magistri Guilhelmi huyon & Consta[n]tini fradin ibide[m] co[m]morantes. Anno salutis Millesimo quingetesimo decimoquinto. iiii. Nonas Maii.
Lyon: Gilbert de Villiers for Gilbert Huyon and François Fradin, . to: a–z A–E; a b (blank b), ff. ccxxiiii; . Gothic letter in double columns, woodcut initials. near full-page woodcuts (including repeats). x mm. Title soiled and worn, corners of first few leaves rounded; worm tracks in the inner margins repaired with tissue, extending to sig. m but only affecting one or two letters on a few leaves; overall light browning; waterstains in the inner margins; still a fairly fresh copy. Binding: Re-sewn and re-cased in contemporary blind-stamped calf, heavily worn with repairs to corners and joints. In a morocco backed slip case, edges worn. Provenance: Early inscription on title ‘Ex libris Bibliotheca Sti. Blasii Mons Citory[?] de Urbe P.P. Congregis Somasche’; another exlibris above this partly erased; small leather bookplate ‘Bibliothèque du Docteur Lucien-Graux’. About words of contemporary annotations in the text and on the woodcut on f. lxxxv. Walter Pagel’s signature dated . Second edition (first Barcelona, ). The present edition should not be confused with the reprint made over years later with the original date on the titlepage but without Fradin’s imprint, printed in Roman type and paginated [] []. Rogent and Duràn ; Baudrier XI, pp. – p. ; Gültlingen III, Gilbert de Villiers ; Renouard, Badius Ascensius p. , no. ; Wellcome ; Palau ; Duveen p. . ‘A Catalan encyclopedist, Lull invented an “art of finding truth” which inspired Leibniz’s dream of a universal algebra four centuries later.... Lull himself pioneered its application to all subjects studied in medieval universities – except music – and also constructed one of the last great medieval encyclopedias, the Arbor scientiae (–) in accordance with its basic principles.’ (R. D. F. Pring-Mill, DSB :–.) Lull’s method ‘was an extraordinary mixture of sound logic and of graphical schemes... with arbitary conventions and a kind of Qabbalism... The worst side of it was nonsense; the best side, a premature and crude anticipation of what we now call mathematical logic (or algebra of logic, etc.).’ (Sarton, pp. –). The analysis of human knowledge in terms of the parts of a tree is illustrated by woodcuts that show Lull and a monk in conversation beneath a pomegranate tree whose roots and branches are labelled with the names of intellectual categories. Five different blocks are used with blank spaces for lettering. This is either supplied by type let into holes cut in the blocks or the spaces are left blank; in this copy some of these have lettering supplied in manuscript. One block shows Christ wielding an axe about to harvest one of the fruits. There is a poem on the title by Badius Ascensius who later published several editions of Lull’s works. Sarton, II, pp. –, no. on p. ; Elíes Rogent and Estanislau Duràn, Bibliografia de les impressions Lullianes, (Barcelona, ).
LULL, Ramón (–c. ) De secretis naturae sive de quinta essentia libellus. [Colophon:] Excusum August[a]e Vindelicoru[m]. Anno Sal. M.D.XVIII. Die vero prima Julii. Augsburg: Sigmund Grimm and Marx Wirsung, . to: a b–f, unnumbered leaves. Roman letter. Title within a woodcut border, woodcut initials. x mm. Blank area of title damaged where an inscription has been removed and strengthened on verso; single round wormhole in blank upper margins. A good clean copy with a strong impression of the title border. Binding: Recent quarter calf. Second or third edition (first Venice, , reprinted at Venice, and Lyons, ; see below for the fifth edition, . Rogent and Duràn (without having seen a copy); Pereira I.; R ; Wellcome ; Mellon . This is the central work of the pseudo-Lullian alchemical corpus, uniting the alchemical practice elaborated in the earlier Testamentum with that based on the fifth essence of wine introduced by John of Rupescissa. It is important in establishing the Lullian corpus because it presupposes the existence of a group of alchemical works attributed to Lull, including the Testamentum and related works. Rupescissa’s Liber de consideratione quintae essentiae was written in the mid-fourteenth century, so that the Liber de secretis naturae was obviously written well after Lull’s death. In fact none of the alchemical writings attributed to Lull can plausibly have been written by him. The text is derived from Rupescissa, De consideratine quintae essentiae, not published in its original form until (no. below). Thorndike calls this Lullian version ‘A perversion of Rupescissa’s text, combined with bits from the alchemical writings ascribed to Raymond Lull’ (III, p. , n. ). The false attribution of every alchemical treatise concerning the fifth essence of wine and its attribution to Raymond Lull shows how Lull’s name carried more weight than Rupescissa’s in the alchemical and Hermetic tradition. Michela Pereira, The alchemical corpus attributed to Raymond Lull ().
LULL, Ramón (–c. ); ALBERTUS MAGNUS De secretis naturae sive quinta essentia libri duo. His accesserunt, Alberti Magni... De mineralibus & rebus metallicis libri quinq[ue]. Quae omnia solerti cura repurgata rerum naturae studiosis recens publicata sunt per M. Gualtherum H. Ryff... Anno Domini M. D. XLI. Mense Martio. [Colophon:] Argentorati apud Balthassarum Beck. Anno LXI Mense Martio. Strasbourg: Balthasar Beck, .
vo: A–Z a (–a), of leaves, without a, presumably blank, ff. [] []. Roman letter. Woodcut initials. woodcuts of chemical apparatus, one full page. x mm. Titlepage soiled and stained, damaged by removal of a library stamp and laid down; light soiling and browning, line endings lightly marked in pencil. Binding: Contemporary calf with arms on upper board, heavily restored in the nineteenth century with new spine and borders to sides and new endleaves. Provenance: Unidentified arms on the contemporary upper board; inscription ‘Alfred Scott Gatty, Rouge Dragon from G. J. L; ’ and his bookplate ‘FSA and York Herald’. Fifth edition of Lull, later edition of Albertus, De mineralibus. This edition was reprinted at Venice in and followed by editions printed at Nuremberg, , Basle, , Colgne and several later editions. Rogent and Duràn ; Peirera .; R; Duveen p. ; Neu ; Wellcome . A new edition of the central work of the pseudo-Lullian corpus, prepared by the Strasbourg physician Walter Herman Ryff (d. ).
LULL, Ramón (–c. ) Libelli aliquot Chemici: nunc primum, excepto vade mecum, in lucem opera Doctoris Toxitae editi... Basilae. Apud Petrum Pernam. M. D. LXXII. Basle: Peter Perna, . vo: ):( a–z A–G a–b, leaves, pp. [] []. Roman letter. Woodcut ‘tree’ on p. and a small woodcut in the text on p. . x mm. Titlepage worn and soiled, the ink inscription has corroded the paper leaving a hole affecting a few letters on the verso and the inscription has been partially erased further weakening the paper; light browning and foxing throughout. Binding: Contemporary vellum boards. A little worn, ties lacking, endleaves replaced. First edition of this collection. Reprinted at Basle in . Rogent and Duràn ; R; Duveen p. ; Neu ; Norman II, p. . An important edition of the pseudo-Lullian alchemical corpus containing eight treatises, at least five of them printed here for the first time. The collection was edited by Michael Schütz, known as Toxites, the Strasbourg physician and editor or Paracelsus. It is dedicated to three men of Bunzlau, Silesia, who had been his fellow students (Duveen). Contents: Testamentum novissimum (first surviving edition, Peirera I., cf. Rogent and Duràn , possibly a ghost). Elucidatio testamenti (first edition, Peirera I.).
Liber lucis mercuriorum (first edition, Peirera I.). Experimenta (first edition, Peirera I.). Liber artis compendiosae qui vade mecum nuncupatur (second edition, Peirera I.). Compendium animae transmutationis metallorum (third edition, Peirera I.). Epistola accurationis lapidis benedicti ad dom. Robertum Anglorum regem (second edition, Peirera I.). Liber medicinae magnae (first edition, Peirera I.).
MASSA, Niccolò (–) Liber de Morbo Gallico: noviter editus: in quo omnes modi possibiles sanandi ipsum: mira quadam & artificiosa doctrina continentur: ut studioso lectori patebit. [Colophon:] Venetiis in aedibus Francisci Bindoni, ac Maphei Pasini summa dilige[n]tia impressus. Anno domini millesimo quingentesimo septimo. Mensis Iulii. Venice: Francesco Bindoni and Maffeo Pasini, . to: A–L, unnumbered leaves. Roman letter with title in gothic on Ar. -line white on black initial on A and one other small initial. x mm. A washed copy, some light browning, a few wormholes filled, mostly marginal but affecting a few letters. Binding: Recent vellum boards. Provenance: No early ownership marks; old underlining on f. r –fv. First edition, falsely dated in the colophon; another issue with the same false date has the imprint Parma, Francesco Ugoleto and Antonio Viotti. The edition of was previously thought to be the first, and further editions were printed in , re-issued in , and and a French translation was published in . ; Wellcome ; Garrison–Morton . This early work on syphilis (the fourth in Garrison–Morton, after Grünpeck, Leoniceno and Lopez de Villalobos) includes a description of the neurological manifestations of the disease (Garrison–Morton). It is a comprehensive description of the symptoms and effects of syphilis. Massa believed that although usually contracted by sexual intercourse, syphilis could also arise spontaneously without contact. He discusses the role of diet, sleep and exercise together, and the use of drugs, bloodletting, leeches, and guaiac in the treatment of syphilis (Heirs of Hippocrates , describing the edition). Niccolò Massa studied at Padua and was professor of anatomy at Venice. He is known as one of the earliest anatomists (with Benedetti and Berengario), to perform dissections, as he states in his Anatomiae liber introductorius, first published in (see next item). Peter Krivatsky, ‘Nicola Massa’s Liber de morbo gallico – Dated but printed in ’, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Science () –-; D. Casagrande, ‘Errore o falso in piena regola? Il Liber de Morbo Gallico di Nicolò Massa’, Charta, (), –.
MASSA, Niccolò (–) Anatomiae liber introductorius, in quo quamplurimae partes actiones, atque utilitates humani corporis... Venetiis, ex officina Stellae Jordani Zilleti, MDLIX. [Colophon:] Venetiis: in vico Sancti Moysi, apud signum archangeli Raphaelis, in [a]edibus Francisci Bindoni ac Maphaei Pasini, socios, accuratissime impressum mense Nove[m]bri. M D XXXVI. Venice: Francesco Bindoni and Maffeo Pasini, , reissued by Giordano Ziletti, . to: A (+/– A,,,) B–C, leaves, foliated [–] – [] [] –. In this copy the reset leaves, presumably printed as a single gathering, are bound before A. Roman letter except the dedication leaf, A, in Italic. Woodcut printer’s device on title, -line historiated initial on A, -line white on black initial on A, initial spaces with guide letters in the rest of the text. x mm. Title dustsoiled, otherwise a good fresh and clean copy. Binding: Eighteenth-century vellum boards, green sprinkled edges. Provenance: ‘F. O.’ hand-stamped on title in large letters; John Howell Books, San Francisco, with description (priced $) dated September laid in. First edition, second issue with A, , and cancelled. The first issue has the title Liber introductorius anatomiae. ; Adams M; Durling ; Manchester ; Waller ; Wellcome ; Garrison-Morton (citing the issue). Like Berengario, Massa follows the organisation of Mondino’s Anatomia in describing the parts of the body. He hurls invective against recent writers who have blindly followed classical sources, insisting on first hand experience and claiming to have performed countless dissections. In the introduction he advises, ‘so that you may learn everything, you should often practice dissection, in the way I shall explain below, or in some other if you find a better way’ (Carlino p. ). The title and dedication were no doubt replaced to sell unsold copies of the original issue. At the same time A and were cancelled. It is clear from this copy, in which the replacement leaves are bound as a single gathering before the rest of the book, that A was cancelled, not A as stated by Durling and . Andrea Carlino, Books of the Body. Anatomical Ritual and Renaissance Learning (), pp. , and –.
MASSA, Niccolò (–) Liber de febre pestilentiali, ac de pestichiis, morbillis, variolis, & apostematibus pestilentialibus... M D XL. [Colophon:] Venetiis, apud
Franciscum Bindonem, & Maphaeum Pasinum maxima diligentia excussum. Mense Iulii. Anno a Virgineo Partu. M. D. XL. Venice: Francesco Bindoni and Maffeo Pasini, . to: A–T, leaves, foliated. Roman letter. x mm. Waterstained, light browning, paper somewhat limp. Binding: Recent boards, original free endleaves preserved. Contemporary manuscript title on lower page edges. Provenance: Early inscription ‘Ad Baptista Zucculii usum’ on title and in probably the same hand ‘Costo [undeciphered] . bononie die januarii [undeciphered] ’ on free end-leaf; later signature ‘Genesii Soncini[?] M.D.’ on rear free endleaf; circular censor’s stamp ‘Prof Pietro Tonelli Censore Stati Estensi’ on title and a similar stamp, name illegible, dated Regio, . First edition. Another edition was printed in (some copies dated ). ; Durling ; Wellcome . This work on infectious diseases includes an early description of the typhus epidemics that occurred in the first half of the century. It was only in that Fracastoro, in his De contagione, properly distinguished between plague and typhus (Castiglione, trs Krumbhaar, History of Medicine, , p. ).
MELETIUS (th century) De natura structuraque hominis opus, Polemonis Atheniensis insignis philosophi Naturae signorum interpretationis: Hippocratis De hominis structura. Dioclis Ad Antigonum regem de tuenda valetidine epistola. Melampi De nevis corporis tractatus. Omnia haec non prius edita. Nicolao Petreio Corcyraeo interprete... Venetiis M D LII. [Colophon:] Venetiis ex officina Gryphii, sumptibus vero Francisci Camotii & sociorum. Anno M D LII. Venice: Giovanni Francesco Camocio and partners for Giovanni Griffio, . to: * A–A a–d, leaves, pp. [] []. Italic letter with Roman headings. Woodcut printer’s device on title and fine historiated initials. x mm. Title soiled and spotted; single round worm hole through the text; a fine clean and fresh copy. Binding: Contemporary limp vellum, MS lettering on lower page edges. Ties lacking, cracks across spine and vellum chipped away in one place, some worming with loss of small areas of vellum on the sides. Provenance: Early inscription on title [undeciphered]. First edition. Translated by N. P. Corcyraeus; the Greek text was printed in . ; Adams M; Durling ; Wellcome .
A treatise on the constitution of man’s body, dismissed by Sarton as ‘theological rather than scientific’. More recent commentators have however found it worthwhile to study the text for Melitius’ knowledge of ophthalmology (Renehan; Lascaratos and M. Tsirouas) as well as his views on Gender (Holman). The fullest account of the book is given by Renehan, who could find out nothing about Meletius other than what he tells us himself in this work: he is a monk at the monastery of the Holy Trinity in Tiberiopolis; he states explicitly that he is a doctor, and that he practices cautery and bloodletting. He is a Byzantine, short, blue-eyed, snub-nosed, afflicted with gout and with a scar on his forehead. He claims that De natura hominis is a new type of treatise, a concise but complete account of the nature of man and claims ‘somewhat naively, that his treatise is the first synthesis to cover all aspects of the subject’ (Renehan p. ). The edition also contains several other translations of Greek medical texts as advertised in the title. The first of these, Natura signorum interpretatio is a translation of the Byzantine Greek forgery of Antonius Polemo’s Physiognomica (Durling). Sarton I, ; Robert Renehan, ‘Meletius’ Chapter on the Eyes: An Unidentified Source’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. , ‘Symposium on Byzantine Medicine ()’, –; J. Lascaratos and M. Tsirou ‘Ophthalmological ideas of the Byzantine author Meletius’, Documenta Ophthalmologica () –; Susan R. Holman, ‘On Phoenix and Eunuchs: Sources for Meletius the Monk’s Anatomy of Gender’ Journal of Early Christian Studies () –.
MONDINO DEI LUZZI (d. ) De omnibus humani corporis interioribus menbris [sic] anathomia. [Colophon:] Impressit Argentine Martinus Flach Anno domini. M.D.xiii. Strasbourg: Martin Flach, . to: [A]–K, leaves unpaginated. Gothic letter, , and -line woodcut initials as well as initial spaces with guide letters. Woodcut diagram on fv and a three-quarter-page astrological wound man on kr. x mm, rubricated thoughout with initial letters and paragraph marks. A large copy with some deckle edges showing in the lower and outer margins; title-leaf dust-soiled and very slightly chipped in the margins, old repair to blank lower margin of A, some inner margins waterstained, light spotting and paper discolouration; a good fresh copy. Binding: Recent half morocco. Provenance: Duplicate from the Bayerische Staats-Bibliothek with stamps on Ar and v, Av (with release stamp) and Kr. First printing of Johannes Adelphus’ recension of Mundinus, Anatomia (first Pavia, ); the present version was reprinted at Rostock in the following year. ZV and M; Ritter ; Muller p. , Flach ; Bird ; Durling ; Waller ; Wellcome ; Choulant-Frank p. .
An interesting early edition of the first book on anatomy to be written in the middle ages, composed in . Mondino’s Anatomia dominated the teaching of anatomy for over two hundred years and no real improvements were made on it until Berengario published his famous commentary in . It is not clear if Mondino undertook dissections himself, or employed a dissector to carry out the work under his direction. In any case from the way the book is written, it seems that in teaching the text was intended to be read out by the professor on a podium while a surgeon performed the dissection and pointed out the organs. This was the procedure illustrated in Ketham’s Fasciolo in and in many others images, the tradition at which Vesalius’ iconoclastic frontispiece to the Fabrica in was aimed, when he showed himself performing his own dissections in front of his audience. Six incunable editions of Mondino’s Anatomia were printed from to and one printed in Pavia in before this Strasbourg edition. Mondino’s text was unillustrated, but this edition includes a small woodcut representing the heart (unrelated to Mondino’s text) and a zodiac man with dissected thoracic and abdominal cavities. Choulant notes that this woodcut is printed on the titlepage in some copies, on the final leaf (as here) in others and sometimes in both places. The Luzzi were a prominent Florentine family, but had moved to Bologna by the time Mondino was born. He attended the University there and gained is MD in and probably joined the faculty of the college of medicine and philosophy shortly after his graduation and was later professor of anatomy. He is best known for the Anatomia but also wrote at least nine consilia and a number of commentaries on classical medical texts.
NAZARI, Giovanni Battista Della tramutatione metallica sogni tre... Nel primo de quali si tratta della falsa tramutatione sofistica: Nel secondo della utile tramutatione detta reale usuale: Nel terzo della divina tramutatione detta reale filosofica. Aggiontovi di nuovo la Concordanze de filosofi, & loro prattica... In Brescia, appresso Pietro Maria Marchetti. M. D. XCIX. Con licenza de’ superiori. [Colophon:]... M. D. IC. Brescia: Maria Marchetti, . to: a A B–P, leaves, pp. [] . Italic letter with Roman headings. Aldine device on title and verso of last leaf, woodcut and typographic head and tailpieces, woodcut initials, a woodcut architectural frame (repeated times), full page grotesques, a full and half-page set of magic symbols, and two half-page woodcut scenes showing the author (each repeated times). x mm. Headline on p. cropped, though the margins are good; worm tracks in last two leaves touching one or two letters; a few spots. A good fresh and clean copy. Binding: Eighteenth-century English tree calf, marbled endleaves; rebacked and corners repaired.
Third edition (first edition, as Il metamorfosi metallico et humano, Brescia ; second, enlarged edition, Brescia ). ; Adams N; Ferguson II, pp. –; Wellcome ; Mellon ; Neville II, pp. –. A treatise on transmutation and the first bibliography of alchemy. There are four full page illustrations which Ferguson describes as ‘very grotesque’. The other woodcuts include one of the author conversing with Bernard of Treviso, and one where he is sleeping – and dreaming – on a wooded hillside. The first edition contained only the first two dreams; the third dream was added to the second edition, of which this third edition is a close, though not exact, reprint, with the addition of the ‘Concordantia de filosofi’ (pp. –) printing texts usually ascribed to Arnaldus of Villanova (Ferguson). ‘Nothing appears to be known of Nazari beyond the fact that he belonged to Brescia. He clearly had an extensive knowledge of alchemical literature, and his work contains, in the text of the third dream... what is probably the earliest bibliography of alchemy’ (Mellon , second edition, Brescia ). The list of alchemists and alchemical books appeared in the first edition but was greatly enlarged in the second. (The list is reproduced in its entirety by Thorndike, V, Appendix , –). Mellon states that the outer quarto gathering of the last signature (P., P.) is a cancel. Beinecke Rs. is an earlier setting of the type and without the Aldine device on Pv but there are no obvious differences in the text.
NEMESIUS, Bishop of Emesa (fl. ) Libri octo. I. De homine. II. De anima. III. De elementis. IIII. De viribus animae. V. De volu[n]tario et involu[n]tario. VI. De fato. VII. De libero arbitrio. VIII. De providentia. [Colophon:] Argentorati, ex officina libraria Matthiae Schurerii Selestensis, Artium Doctoris. Mense Maio. An. M.D.XII. Strasbourg: Matthias Schürer, . Folio: A–H I K L, leaves, ff. [] LX. Roman letter. Title printed in red within an elaborate woodcut border; initial spaces with guide letters. x mm. Woodcut title border cropped and soiled; top portion of F missing and restored with headline and first lines of text in facsimile; multiple worm holes and tracks through title woodcut and text in first few leaves, diminishing to a single hole which continues to E; a few minor tears. Some soiling in the prelims, otherwise a good fresh copy. Binding: Recent half vellum. Provenance: Inscription on title, ‘Ex libris Principiscae Piccolominiae Bibliothecae fl[??]is densis Jesulanem blan[?], ‘From the Princely Piccolomini library...’, possibly that of Prince Octavio Piccolomini, st Duke of Amalfi (–); about words of contemporary annotation (cropped) in red and black ink (in the same hand).
First edition. Republished in new translations in and, with the editio princeps of the Geek text, in . English translation . Falsely ascribed to Saint Gregory of Nyssa (‘Divini Gregorii Nyssae episcopi’). ZV; Garrison–Morton ; Ritter ; Muller p. , Schürer ; Norman . Nemesius’ De natura hominis was responsible for advancing the theory, generally accepted in the middle ages, that mental processes were localised in the ventricles of the brain. This belief had been advanced earlier in the fourth century by the Greek physician Posidonius, to whom Nemesius refers, but only fragements of Posidonius’ work survived, so that the theory of ventricular localisation was disseminated by Nemesius work. According to the theory, the three ventricles were responsible for sensory perception, intellect and memory and this proved a fruitful basis for later theories of mind. Nemesius was convinced of the correctness of his doctrine, since injury to different areas of the brain caused the loss of different faculties. The idea of ventricular localisation of mental faculties was attacked by Berengario on (see no. above) who grouped the three faculties in three separate areas of the lateral ventricles. The theory was finally demolished by Vesalius who denied any role to the ventricles except the collection of fluid and declared that in some way the mind was in the brain at large. Nemesius’ work was an interpretation of Greek scientific knowledge of the human body from the standpoint of Christian doctrine and contains many passages dealing with Galenic anatomy and physiology. His comments on the heartbeat and pulse have been erroneously interpreted as an anticipation of Harvey. Pagel noted that Servetus followed Nemesius’ theory of localisation (Pagel p. ). Little is known of Nemesius’ career except that he was from Syria, probably converted to Christianity about AD and sometime thereafter became bishop of Emessa. He knew his Galen well and may have had some medical training. De natura hominis was written in Greek. It went through a long period of neglect, but Latin translations began to appear late in the th century and the work has well known in the middle ages, although its true authorship was still obscure. The first translation to be printed was this one by John Cono of Nuremberg – who attributed it to St Gregory of Nyssa – and the Greek text was first printed by Plantin at Antwerp in . This edition also includes texts by Jacobus Faber, St Gregory of Nazianze and St Basil, translated by John Cono and Beatus Rhenanus. The fine title-border is by Urs Graf. It is large for the book and is also cropped in the Norman copy. Pagel, William Harvey’s Biological Ideas (); Sarton , pp. –; C. D. O’Malley, DSB, , pp. –..
NICHOLAS OF CUSA, Cardinal (–) Haec accurata recognitio trium voluminum operum. Vaenundantur cum caeteris eius operibus in Aedibus Ascensianis. Paris: Badius Ascensius, . parts folio: aa, ee, a–z, A–D E (blank E); aa–zz, &&, Aa–Nn, Oo–Pp; AA, BB–GG, HH–II KK, leaves, ff. [], CCXXI, []; CLXXXVIII [i.e. ], CXIIII, []; [], LXXVI. Roman letter, titlepage to each part with architectural border and woodcut device of a printer’s shop, several sizes of criblé initials, a few woodcut diagrams in Part , and numerous geometrical diagrams in the margins Part , second series of foliation. x mm. First titlepage dustsoiled; multiple worm holes throughout text, more numerous at the beginning and end; light waterstains on one or two leaves; inner margins of sigs n, o and leaves p and p restored; one or two geometrical diagrams in the margins shaved. Overall a fine fresh copy. Binding: Seventeenth-century mottled calf, red sprinkled edges; sometime rebacked with original gilt spine compartments laid down. Spine ends rubbed, corners worn. The second part is bound last. Provenance: Inscription on title in a contemporary hand; inscription on last leaf in another contemporary hand; later inscription on title ‘Ex libris Cartusiae Vallis Dei’. I have been unable to decipher either of the early inscriptions; there are annotations throughout the volume in two hands which may be associated with these inscriptions. Walter Pagel’s signature dated on free endleaf and his pencil notes on pastedown. First complete edition, edited by Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples, comprising treatises; of these treatises were first published as Opuscula theologica et mathematica (Strasbourg, ), reprinted at Carpi in . Another collected edition was printed at Basle in . Adams C and ; Renouard, Badius Ascensius II, pp. –; Printing and the Mind of Man . The most complete edition – with treatise printed here for the first time – of the works of one of the greatest geniuses and polymaths of the fifteenth century. Nicholas of Cusa’s works, whether he is writing on religion or philosophy, are founded on mathematical procedures that were highly influential, for mathematics itself as well as for cosmology. His speculations about infinity led him to a concept of knowledge which is infinite, so that mankind can only approach it asymptotically, never reaching complete enlightenment. It also led him to the concept of a uniform and infinite universe – in which the earth was just another star – and of relativity of motion. In pure mathematics Nicholas’ concept of limits, for example the circle as a polygon with an infinite number of sides, was significant in the development of the calculus. In more concrete terms, his ‘several tractates on mathematics, including in the subjects treated
the quadrature of the circle, the reform of the calendar, the improvement of the Alfonsine Tables, the heliocentric theory of the universe (a theory which was looked upon as a paradox rather than a scientific probability), and the theory of numbers’ (Smith I, pp. –). ‘His first and most famous treatise, On Learned Ignorance (De docta ignorantia), is a mystical discourse on the finite and the infinite. In addition to presenting his important philosophical concepts of learned ignorance and coincidence of opposites, this seminal treatise also contains various bold astronomical and cosmological speculations that depart entirely from traditional doctrines. For example, long before Copernicus, he proposed that the earth is not at the center of the cosmos, and is not at rest. He also argued long before Kepler that the motions of the planets are not circular. These speculations, however, were not based on empirical observations but on metaphysical principles.’ (McFarlane). De staticis experimentis, one of the Idiota dialogues, refers to Vitruvius and ‘has a more practical bias [than the others], and contains numerous methods for determining physical parameters through the use of such apparatus as scales and a water clock – for example, the work tells in detail how to determine the humidity of air by measuring the weight of wool’ (Hofmann ). It also includes the famous experiment in which Nicholas, antedating Hales by years, showed that plants gained something of weight from the air (Benedict). Born Nikolaus Krebs in the German town of Kues on the Moselle, Nicholas studied at Heidelberg and Padua, where he took a doctorate in canon law in . In Padua he became familiar with the latest developments in mathematics and astronomy. He had a successful career as a papal envoy and was made a cardinal by Pope Nicholas V in or , and was named Bishop of Brixen in . He did much to strengthen the unity of the Church. D. E. Smith, History of Mathematics (Dover edition, ); Thomas J. McFarlane, ‘Nicholas of Cusa and the Infinite’ (, revised and edited for the web, , http://www.integralscience.org/cusa.html); J. E. Hofmann, DSB : –; R. Benedict, ‘The first experiment in plant physiology’, Science () –.
PANTEO, Giovanni Antonio (c. –) Annotationes... ex trium dierum confabulationibus... De thermis caldarianis: quae in agro sunt Veronesi. [Venice: Bernardino Vitali, ]. Folio: aa–bb b c–e f g–s (without the blanks o and s), of unnumbered leaves. Roman letter with passages in Greek. -line and -line woodcut initials as well as spaces for initials of the same size with guide letters. x mm. First leaf dustsoiled, all leaves mounted on guards, blank corners of q and q restored, tears in s repaired without loss. Binding: Recent vellum. First edition. The dedication by Alessandro Benedetti is dated Venice and the book was formerly considered an incunable. Durling and
Edit follow the BM STC in ascribing printing to Bernadino Vitali in . and (identical but with prelims bound in a different order); BM STC Italian p. ; Durling ; Klebs .; Goff P. A description of the medicinal hot baths near Verona, one of the earliest, if not the first work on balneology. There are notes on chemical and medical subjects. Panteo, a priest, was secretary to Ermolao Barbaro, bishop of Verona and later professor of cannon law at Padova.
PANTEO, Giovanni Agostino (fl. –) Ars transmutationis metallicae cum Leonis X Pont Max et conci capi decemvirum Venetorum edicto. [Colophon, part I:] in aedibus Joa[n]nis Tacuini impressor[um] accuratissimi Venetiis edita. VII. Idus Septembris: M.D.XVIII. [Colophon, part II:]... tertio Kale[ns] Januarii. MD. XIX. Venice: Giovanni Tacuino, –. to: A–E F G–I, ff. . Roman letter with Roman, Greek and Hebrew shoulder notes. Divisional title to ‘Commentarium’ on G. Woodcut outline initials, woodcut border to dedication on A, full page woodcut on Bv, several line diagrams and printed tables. x mm. Woodcut border to dedication cropped at the foot; worm tracks in a few blank margins towards the end; light paper discolouration, very minor soiling. Binding: Nineteenth-century vellum boards. Provenance: Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. First edition. Another edition, illustrated, was printed in . Adams P; Duveen p. ; ; (part I only). ‘Pantheus wrote against spurious alchemy and he deals partly with the assay of gold... and partly with the chemical preparation of various substances which were made at Venice in his time and were used in the arts. He describes, for example, the manufacture of white lead and of an alloy for mirrors, which latter has escaped Beckmann’s notice, though it is referred to by Gobet.’ (Ferguson II, p. – describing the edition). Unlike Ferguson, Thorndike stresses the alchemical nature of the work. He is surprised that the Council of Ten sanctioned the work, dedicated to Pope Leo X, in view of the prohibition of the practice of alchemy by the Venetian government. This was probably brought to Panteo’s attention after the publication of this book because in his next work Voarchadumia contra alchimiam () he professed to be writing not on alchemy but on Voarchadumia which he represents as the very opposite of alchemy, a sort of “cabal of metals”. Yet most of the Ars transmutationes is repeated in the Voarchadumia. (Thorndike V, pp. –.)
Items ‒ PARACELSUS Paracelsus was one of the three figures around which Pagel based most of his research, the others being van Helmont and Harvey. Besides his classic Paracelsus, an Introduction to Philosophical Medicine in the Era of the Renaissance (, second, revised edition ), Pagel wrote many other articles and books on Paracelsus, and the article in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, from which the following extracts are quoted. ‘Paracelsus,’ a nickname dating from about may denote ‘surpassing Celsus’; it might also represent a latinization of ‘Hohenheim,’ or even refer to his authorship of ‘para[doxical]’ works that overturned tradition. Paracelsus was the son of William of Hohenheim, a member of the Bombast (Banbast) family of Swabia, who practiced medicine from to at Villach, in Carinthia; his mother was a bondswoman of the Benedictine abbey at Einsiedeln. Paracelsus received his early education – particularly in mining, mineralogy, botany, and natural philosophy – from his father. He was later taught by several bishops and apparently by Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim and a famous exponent of the occult, who was also in contact with Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim. Paracelsus did practical work in the Fugger mines of Hutenberg, near Villach, and in those of Siegfried Fueger at Swaz. In addition, Paracelsus probably studied at various Italian universities, perhaps including that of Ferrara. (DSB :b) Paracelsus’ difficult personality may have been formed from his resentment of his father’s illegitimate birth and of his mother’s status as a bondswoman. He was an angry man, and his career followed a pattern of initial triumphs followed by losing battles, in the course of which he alienated even his best friends and patrons. His wholesale condemnation of traditional science and medicine found parallels in his rough behaviour and in his unwillingness to make concessions to custom and authority. He sought to learn new cures and remedies from the common people, and spent many hours drinking with them in low taverns; his expertise concerning wines and vintages is apparent in some of his medical writings. (DSB :b)
In his own writings Paracelsus dealt in paradoxes, interlarded with undisguised obscenities and endless outbursts against traditional doctrines and their professors. His works might have at times appeared to be the ravings of a megalomaniac, enjoining the whole learned world to follow him in new paths, away from the deceitfully wrong and ‘excrementitious’ humoral lore. Nonetheless, he created a new style and a refreshing and witty language, perfectly suited to the ideas that he wished to convey. These ideas – those of a naturalist physician, spiritualist and symbolist thinker, and passionately religious and charitable fighter against perceived evil – are reflected in the contradictory interpretations that posterity has placed upon Paracelsus’ work. He was, for example, extolled in the early years of the nineteenth century, the era of Romanticism and Naturphilosophie, and reviled before and after, at the beginning of the age of scientific medicine. (DSB :b)
PARACELSUS (–); LICHTENBERGER, Johannes (th century); GRÜNPECK, Joseph (c. –c. ); and CARION, Johannes (– or ) [Composite volume of works] . Propheceien und Weissagungen Vergangne, Gegenwertige, und Künfftige Sachen, Geschich unnd Zufäll Hoher unnd Niderer Stände. Den frommen zu ermanung und trost, Den bösen zum schercken und warnung, biß zum end, verkündende. Nemlich: Doctoris Paracelsi, Johan Liechtenbergers, M. Josephi Grünpeck, Joan. Caronis, Der Sibylen, und anderer... [no imprint or date]. [Frankfurt: Christian Egenolff the elder, ]. to: A–Z Aa–Ee Ff (blank Ff), unnumbered leaves. Gothic letter. Large woodcut on title, allegorical woodcuts (c. x mm) in the Paracelsus’ text, woodcuts in Liechtenbuerger’s ( full page, the others three-quarter page); to the Sybils (c. x mm); and one woodcut of ‘St Bridget’ ( x mm). x mm. Several blank corners restored; paper flaw in P affecting a few letters; a few of the larger woodcuts shaved in the outer margin with loss of borders; light waterstains; titlepage soiled and some light soiling throughout. Binding: Bound before earlier works in contemporary blind stamped calf, remains of brass clasps, lettered ‘Propheceiung’ on upper board. Worn, old repairs to joints, now starting to crack again but sound. Provenance: Eighteenth-century signature and bookplate of Joannis Adriani L. B. de Plencken; old stamp ‘G. R. Hoverden Najorats Bibl’ on title. First edition of this collection. There is no place or printer, the present attribution and dating is from : Sudhoff had dated this edition to and placed it after the edition dated with leaves. This last is also attributed to Egenolff by , along with another undated edition given a date of ; another edition was published by Wendelin Rihel at Strasbourg in . The Paracelsus text was first printed on its own as Prognostication auff xxiiii jar, Augsburg, Heinrich Steyner, ; the other texts had also been previously printed. Sudhoff ; Wellcome . A handsome composite volume of prophetic writings, comprising an edition of Paracelsus, Prognostication (in an edition with other texts) bound with four shorter works. Since these shorter works, pamphlets really, were printed – years before the Paracelsus edition, it seems likely that the volume was put together for sale as a bound volume by a bookseller as a way of selling slow moving stock. Paracelsus’ own text is illustrated with emblematic half-page woodcuts, printed from the original blocks used in Heinrich Steyner’s Augsburg edition and attributed to Jörg Breu the elder.
The second item in the collection, ‘The prophecies of the Twelve Sibyls’, duplicates one of the texts reprinted in the Paracelsus edition. This earlier, separate edition was printed by Egenolff, confirming the attribution of the printing of the Paracelsus edition which re-uses the same blocks. The ‘Prophecies of the Twelve Sibyls’ was evidently very popular with at least editions published before , of which Egenolff’s edition is perhaps the first. In reprinting it in this edition (with slightly truncated text) Egenolff used the same woodcuts, bar one, but slightly re-arranged with the Queen of Sheba now represented by one of the sibyl cuts, and what was formerly the Queen of Sheba now purporting to be St Bridget.
The other works in the volume are as follows:
. Weissagungenn der zwölff Sibyllen vil wunderbarer Zukünfft von anfang biss zu End der Welt besagende. Nichaula der Künigin von Saba, künig Salomon gethane Propheceien. Merckliche künfftige ding, von S. Brigitten, Cirillo, Methodio, Joachimo, Brüder Reinharten, Joanne Liechtenberger, Brüder Jacob auß Hispanien, Doctor Josepho Grünpeck, Philippo Cathaneo, und andern... beschribenn. FL. Josephi, des Jüdischen Geschichtschreibers, Ein herrlich Zeugnus von Christo... Zu Franckfurt am Meyn. Bei Christian Egenolph [colophon adds] im jar . Frankfurt: Christian Egenolff the elder, . to: A–G (blank G) unnumbered leaves. Gothic letter. Woodcut on title and woodcuts of Sibyls (c. x mm) and one of ‘Nichaula Künigin von Saba’ ( x mm) in the text. Fourth edition in which describes editions in , and before this one, all published by Egenolff, and another editions up to . Z.
. THEODERICUS CROATA, (fl. ) Ein wunderbarliche Weissagung von vergangenen gegenwertigen und zukünfftigen Dingen, durch einen Parfusser Münch Dietrich genant, etwo Bischoff zu Zug in Krocen vor hundert und sechtzehen Jaren gemacht. [Nürnberg: Hieronymus Andreae, called Formschneyder], to: A, unnumbered leaves. Gothic letter. The only edition in , T.
. ALONSEFRESANT Eyn Prophecey und Weyssagung von den vier erben Hertzog Johansen von Burgundi, der von dem Türcken gefangen des jars. [Speyer: Anastatius Nolt, ] to: A, unnumbered leaves. Gothic letter.
One of three editions printed in . In this edition the third line begins ‘von dem Türcken gefangen’, whereas in the two Nuremberg editions ( A and A) the third line begins ‘Türcken gefange[n]’ and at least one has a titlepage woodcut. ZV.
. Chronica. Darin auff das kürtzest werden begriffen die namhafftigsten geschichte[n], so sich unter allen Kaysern, von der gegeburt Christi biß auff das Tausent Fünffhundert ein und dreyssigst Jar verlauffen haben. [Nuremberg: Jobst Gutknecht], to: A–Q R S, unnumbered leaves. Gothic letter. Title within a woodcut border made up of blocks. words of contemporary annotation on Ev. The first edition in ; another edition with the same extent was published by Gutknecht and there were Wittemberg editions in and with and leaves respectively. C. J. Weber-Marshall, Le prognostic de Paracelse: prophétie en figures et textes: traduite sur l’édition originale de précédée d’une étude sur Paracelse et suivie de commentaires (Paris, ).
PARACELSUS (–) Labyrinthus medicorum errantium... [Colophon: ] Noribergae apud Valentinum Neuberum, impensis Bernhardis Vischer. Anno M. D. LIII. Nuremberg: Valentin von Neuber for Barnard Vischer, . to: A–L, unnumbered leaves. Roman letter with Italic prelims. Woodcut initials. Large woodcut portrait of the author dated on title. x . Titlepage soiled and with a corner torn away and restored, just affecting the woodcut portrait and with loss of word from the verses on the verso; worm tracks through first leaves affecting a few letters; marginal waterstains, extending into the text in the last leaves. Binding: Later thin boards covered in old decorated paper. Provenance: Early interlinear annotations on leaves. First edition. A second edition was printed at Hanover in . Sudhoff ; P; Wellcome . Paracelsus’ last medical work in which ‘he summarized his doctrines once more and stated his case against the academic doctors. It is the most readable of his writings, and despite some obvious and gross errors of fact and of method, it deserves translation’ (Pachter p. ). This short work, together with two others, was written in during Paracelsus’ visit to Carinthia and dedicated to Johannes von Brant. ‘The
dedication was accepted, but the printing though promised, not undertaken – possibly owing to official inertia, possibly at the behest of the Vienna faculty’ (Pagel p. ). ‘From the early fifties – about twelve years after the death of Paracelsus – an ever increasing stream of Paracelsean writings came to light foremost among them the “Labyrinth of Errant Physicians” () – the tail piece of the “Carinthian Trilogy” of (Pagel p. ). Walter Pagel, Paracelsus. An Introduction to Philosophical Medicine in the Era of the Renaissance (nd edition, ); Henry Maximilian Pachter, Paracelsus; Magic into Science ().
PARACELSUS, Libri quinque de causis, signis & curationibus morborum ex tartaro utilissimi (), bound with Paracelsus, Libri V de vita longa (), no. below, and another copy bound with Arnaldus, Omnia, quae extant opera chymica (), no. below.
PARACELSUS (–) Philosophiae ad Athenienses, drey Bücher. Von Ursachen und Cur Epilepsiae... Item, vom ursprung, cur oder heilung der contracten glidern, jetzt newlich auß des Theophrasti selbst eigner Handtschrift trewlich an tag geben. Gedruckt zu Cöln Durch die Erben Arnoldi Byrckmanni. Anno . Cologne: heirs of Arnold Birckmann the elder, . to: A–K a–q (blank q) unnumbered leaves. Gothic letter, title printed in red and black; -line decorated initials. Woodcut of Paracelsus’ coat of arms on kv repeated on Qv. Slip cancel on titlepage correcting the misprint ‘Phisophiae’ to ‘Philosophiae’. x mm. Light foxing and waterstaining becoming heavier towards the end. Binding: Recent quarter morocco. Provenance: About words of contemporary annotation, some very faded, in the third part; some underlining and pointing fists. Walter Pagel’s signature dated . First edition. Sudhoff ; Ferguson ; P; Durling ; Wellcome . ‘In surveying Paracelsus’ ideas of “Matter” and the “Elements” we can hardly avoid following the “Three Books of Philosophy to the Athenians” (Pagel pp. –); Temkin deals with Paracelsus chapter on epilepsy in Elf Tractat (); Von den hinfallenden siechtagen (); and De caducis liber secundus (), but not this text, but makes the point that for Paracelsus and his followers the treatment of epilepsy was of particular importance because it was a disease which traditional medicines had failed to cure. The efficacy of chemical remedies for epilepsy was widely debated and the condition thus became an important topic in the arguments about medical progress (Temkin pp. –). Pagel, Paracelsus (); Oswei Temkin, The Falling Sickness (nd edition, ).
PARACELSUS (–) Das Büch Paragranum... Darinn die vier Columnae, als da ist, Philosophia, Astronomia, Alchimia, unnd Virtus, auff welche Theophrasti Medicin fundirt ist, tractirt werden. Item, Von Aderlassens, Schrepffens und Purgirens rechtem gebrauch.... Franck. Bey Chri. Egen. Erben.. [Colophon:] Getruckt zu Franckfurt am Meyn, bey Christian Egenolffs Erben. Anno M. D. LXV. Frankfurt: heirs of Christian Egenolff the elder, . vo: )( A–Y (blank Y), leaves, ff. [] []. Gothic letter. Title printed in red and black. Several sizes of decorated initials; woodcut tailpieces. x mm. A very good clean copy. Binding: Contemporary wallet style vellum wrapper made from a German printed leaf, gothic letter printed in red and black; early manuscript label. Worn but sound. Provenance: Underlining on pages and the book’s title entered on the endleaf in a contemporary hand but no other early marks of ownership or use. First edition, setting of title with ‘Paragranum’ on one line; in P the title is set with the word broken ‘Paragra-| num’: the wording of the title is otherwise identical (except ‘vnd’ for ‘vnnd’) and there is no indication in the database if the rest of the book is a different setting or not. Sudhoff ; P; Durling ; Wellcome . Paragranum, ‘Against the Grain’ is Paracelsus’ second ‘great work’. ‘After its opening rant against the foolishness and ignorance of the medical profession, it settles down to provide the first clear systematization of Paracelsus’ thoery of medicine.’ (Ball pp. – and .)
‘It is his best-known work, for despite the usual confusion of detail the outline is simple, the style lively, and his basic teachings are put in a nutshell. Polemicizing against ignorance and dogmatism, Paracelsus develops the fundamentals of the new medicine. He answers the renewed charge that he lacks diplomas with a question: “What makes a doctor?” On four pillars, he says, rests the whole art of healing: Philosophy (roughly corresponding to what today is called natural science). Astronomy (in contrast to astrology, this includes characterology, psychosomatic dynamics, and physcho-climatology, or that indeterminate universe of knowledge which, for want of a better name, may be called anthropology, or psychology). Alchemy (including biochemistry and pharmacology). Virtue (the professional skill of the doctor, his experience and psychological ability to mobilize the patient’s vital forces).’ (Pachter p. .) An attractive copy in a contemporary vellum binding made, unusually, not from a medieval manuscript leaf but from a printed leaf. It is a legal document, printed in red and black and with a pen-work flourish, the text headed ‘Der Erste Tittl’ with a subheading ‘Der Acht Artickl. Das man den Richtern kain arbait thun[?]’. Philip Ball, The Devil’s Doctor: Paracelsus and the world of renaissance magic and science (); Henry Maximilian Pachter, Paracelsus; Magic into Science ().
PARACELSUS (–) Libri V de vita longa, incognitarum rerum, & hucusque à nemine tractatarum referitissimi, una cum commendatoria Valentii de Retiis, et Adami à Bodenstein dedicatoria epistola... Basileae, Apud Petrum Pernam. Basle: Peter Perna, []. vo: a–k (–k,, & , blanks), of leaves, pp. [] . Roman letter. Woodcut initials. [bound with:]
Libri quinque de causis, signis & curationibus morborum ex tartaro utilissimi. Opera et industria nobilis viri Adami a Bodenstein in lucem propter commune commodum micorcosmi... Basileae, Per Petrum Pernam. . Basle: Peter Perna, . vo: * a–v (–v,), of leaves, pp. [] [] (last page blank). Roman letter. Woodcut initials. x . I: leaves, a. and b. and restored ; II: light waterstains and tiny wormholes in blank margins. Binding: Nineteenth-century vellum boards. Provenance: Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. I: Third edition: first as Libri quatuor de vita loga (); the present is a
reprint of the second, enlarged edition () with the errata corrected. Another edition was printed at Frankfurt in . Sudhoff ; ZV; Wellcome ; II: First edition. Sudhoff ; P; Wellcome . The first work in the volume, on health and long life, describes the preparation of medicines, both chemical and herbal, and discusses Paracelsus’ treatment of such diseases as gout, leprosy, epilepsy, cancer and syphilis. It is in the use of chemical therapy, given internally and in moderate doses (unlike the toxic doses of mercury then used in treating syphilis) that Paracelsus is considered to have made the greatest advances in clinical medicine. His chief contribution to medical theory was in demolishing the ancient theory of disease, seen as an imbalance of the humours, and replacing it with a parasitistic or ontological concept of disease that is essentially the modern one. (Pagel, DSB, :). The second work concerns Paracelsus’ concept of ‘tartarous diseases’ caused by deposits of salts of tartar in the joints and other parts of the body, rather than an imbalance of humours. He had first advanced this theory in De Morbis Tartereis (). This was the first suggestion of a chemical or metabolic cause for any disease. According to Paracelsus, the cause of this build up of the salts was the inability of certain individuals to metabolise the tartar. At the same time there might be external factors, such as the water supply and Paracelsus noted that in Switzerland there was no gout, no colic, no rheumatism and no stone. It is now known that the cause of gout is the accumulation of uric acid in the blood and the deposit of sodium biurate in the tissues: Paracelsus’ suggestion of a chemical cause and of an ‘inborn error of metabolism’ (in Archibald Garrod’s phrase) was extraodinary – and had little influence till much later. (Copeman pp. and –). A note in Pagel’s hand laid in reads: ‘In this volume the discovery of sedimentation of protein by acid e.g. in urine is set out on p. in the second work – on Tartarus. W.P. See my Paracelsus p. ’. Henry Maximilian Pachter, Paracelsus; Magic into Science (); W. S. C. Copemen, A Short History of the Gout, ().
PARACELSUS (–) Philosophiae magnae... Tractatus aliquot, jetzt erst in Truck geben, unnd hiernach verzeichnet... Getruckt zu Cöln, bey Arnoldi Byrckmans Erben Anno . [Colophon:] Zu Cöln truckts Gerhart Vierdunck in verlegung Arnoldi Birckmans Erben. Cologne: Gerhard Virendunck for the heirs of Arnold Birckman, . to: A–I, leaves, pp. [] (i.e. , – omitted) []. Gothic letter with Roman headings. Title within a border of fleurons; decorated initials and a few woodcut initials. Full page portrait of Paracelsus on Av. x mm. Stamp or inscription scraped from titlepage leaving small holes affecting a few letters of the index on the verso, but without significant loss; Extensive waterstains and light browning. Binding: Early nineteenth-century boards.
Provenance: About words of early annotation, underlining and pointing fists, some bled into the paper and hard to read, and some slightly shaved. Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. First edition of this collection. Only the tract De nymphis, sylvanis, pygmeis, et salamandris had been previously published, in (Sudhoff ). A Latin translation was published at Basle in . Sudhoff ; P; Durling . A collection of tracts on natural philosophy, edited and with a foreword by Balthasar Flöter. The titles of the separate treatises are in Latin, though the texts are in German, as follows: De vera influentia rerum; De inventione artium; De sensu & instrumentis; De tempore laboris & requiei; De bona & mala fortuna; De utraque fortuna; De sanguine ultra mortem; De obsessis a malis spiritibus; De somniis, & erynnibus in somno & annexis; De animabus hominum post mortem apparentibus; De lunaticis; De generatione stultorum; De homunculis; De nymphis, sylvanis, pygmeis, et salamandris; De imaginatione; De maeficis & eaorum operibus; and De animalibus ex sodomia natis. The fine woodcut portrait is after the engraving by Austin Hisrchvogel of and shows Paracelsus aged holding a sword, presumably the long sword which Oporinus says was presented to him by a hangman (Pagel p. ). This is the second Hirschvogel portrait, the first was done in and is reproduced by Pagel (Paracelsus, fig. , p. ).
PARACELSUS (–) Von der Bergsucht oder Bergkranckheiten drey Bücher, inn dreyzehen Tractat verfast unnd beschriben worden. Darin[n]en begryffen vom ursprung und herkom[m]en derselbigen francktheiten, sampt ihren warhafftigen Preservativa unnd curren. Allen Ertz unnd Bergleiten, Schmeltzern, Probierern, Müntzmaitern, Goldschmiden unnd Alchimisten, auch allen dene[n] so inn Metallen und Mineralien arbayten, hoch nutzlich tröstlich unnd notturfftig... Anno Domini . [Colophon] Getruckt zu Dilingen durch Sebaldum Mayer. Dillingen: Sebald Mayer, . to: ✠–✠ (blank ✠), A–Q, leaves, ff. [], , [] (last preliminary leaf blank). Gothic letter, title printed in red and black. x mm. A good clean copy. Binding: Re-cased in contemporary vellum boards taken from another book (ré-emboîtage) made from a fifteenth-century vellum manuscript leaf. Provenance: Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. First edition. Sudhoff ; ZV ; Durling ; Waller ; Wellcome . Garrison–Morton .. ‘The year found [Paracelsus] in the land of Appenzell – a poor lay preacher and healer among poor Swiss peasants. In the same year he visited the mining districts of Hall and Schwaz. Here his work on the Miners’ diseases
was conceived and written – the first treatise in medical literature recognising and systematically dealing with an occupational disease’ (Pagel, p. ). The first section covers miners’ diseases, mainly pulmonary affections such as silicosis and tuberculosis which Paracelsus was the first to identify as occupational hazards. The second book describes the diseases of smelters and metallurgists, and the third diseases caused by mercury. ‘The treatise on miners’ diseases, the result of his observations in Fugger’s mines in Tyrol, containing descriptions of miners’ phthisis and the effects of choke-damp, was one of the few original contributions of the time to clinical medicine.’ (Garrison, History of medicine, th ed., p. .) Although written around the book remained unpublished until this posthumous printing, edited by Samuel Architectus. Manuscript leaf used for binding: Germany, fifteenth century, in a formal gothic book hand. Text: Masses for the sanctorale, including part or all of the propers for [?], Heinrich of Bavaria ( July), Alexis ( July), [?], the octave of Lawrence ( August), the octave of the Assumption ( August), and Cornelius ( September). Many of the texts are given by cue only, with a reference to a folio number presumably elsewhere in the volume from which this leaf was taken. (Consuelo W. Dutschke.) Walter Pagel, Paracelsus. An Introduction to Philosophical Medicine in the Era of the Renaissance (nd edition, Basle etc, ), pp. and , n. ; George Rosen, The History of Miners’ Diseases (New York, ), pp. –.
PARACELSUS (–) Etliche Tractaten zum ander mal in Truck aufgangen. Vom Podagra und seinen speciebus. Vom Schlag. Von der Fallender Sucht. Von der Daubsucht oder unsinnigkeit. Vom Kaltenwehe. Von der Colica. Von dem Bauchreissen. Von der Wassersucht. Vom Schwinen oder Aridura. Vom Schwinen oder Schwindtsucht, Hectica. Von Farbsuchten. Von Würmen. Vom Stullauff. Item newlich hinzu getruckt: Von den Podagrischen Kranckheiten, und auch was in anhengig ein Fragmentum. Gedruckt zu Cöln, durch die Erben Arnoldi Birckmanni. Anno ... [Colophon:] Zu Cöln truckts Gerhart Vierenduntk, in verlegung Arnoldi Birckmans Erben. Cologne: Gerhard Virendunck for the heirs of Arnold Birckmann, . to: A–N O, leaves, pp. [] (i.e. , numerous errors in pagination) [] last page blank. Gothic letter with Roman headings. Full page woodcut portrait on verso of title. [bound with:]
Astronomica et astrologia... Getruckt zu Cöln, bey Arnoldi Byrckmans Erben, Anno . [Colophon:] Zu Cöln truckts Gerhart Vierendunck, in verlägung Arnoldi Birckmans Erben. Cologne: Gerhard Virendunck for the heirs of Arnold Birckmann, . to: * A B–H, leaves, pp. [] (i.e. ) [] (last page blank). Title within a border of fleurons, full-page woodcut portrait on Av,
astrological diagram on p. , author’s arms on Hv and a full-page portrait on Hr dated (a different portrait from that on Av). x mm. I: Short tear in upper margin of title; light browning, tear in M repaired without loss. A very good fresh copy. II: upper margins of first two leaves strengthened, short tears in upper margins of titles; moderately heavy foxing or browning. Good fresh copies. Binding: Contemporary blindstamped calf over wooden boards, lettered on upper board ‘Des hochgelerten Theophrasti’, brass clasps, three raised bands on spine. Worn, headcap chipped front free endleaf removed. Provenance: Alchemical symbols in the margins of a pages. Second edition of Etliche tractaten (first ); first edition of Astronomica et astrologia. I: Sudhoff ; Ferguson Paracelsus ; P; Durling ; II: Sudhoff ; Ferguson, Paracelsus ; P. Two works by Paracelsus in a splendid, and unrestored, contemporary blindstamped calf binding. Etliche tractaten. A collection of medical tracts, the first and last of which deal with gout. Paracelsus was the first to suggest that the gout was due to a defect in metabolism. Gout was central to discussions of the efficacy of the new chemical remedies as it was a condition which traditional drugs were unable to treat. Astronomica et astrologia. A work dealing with astrology and prognostication and including a chapter explaining solar eclipses, edited by Balthassar Flöter. ‘Paracelsus believed that the microcosmic sate of man permitted the study of the universe, so that science and knowledge are possible. He called the study of nature and medicine “astronomy,” and urged that every physician be an astronomer – that is, that he study the astra. Paracelsus’ term astra deonted not so much the stars themselves and their influences on sublunary objects (so important in traditional astrology) as their essential virtues and functions of individual objects and their correspondences within all realms of nature, including the stars.’ (Pagel, DSB :b.)
PARACELSUS (–) Ettliche Tractatus... I. Von Natürlichen dingen. II. Beschreibung etlicher kreütter. III Von Metallen. IIII. Von Mineralen. V. Von Edlen Gesteinen... Getruckt zu Straßburg am Kornmarckt, bey Christian Müllers Erben, Anno . Strasbourg: heirs of Christian Müller the elder, . vo: * A–K L (blanks L,), leaves, pp. [] . Gothic letter. Decorative initials. x mm. Light waterstaining and soiling from use. Binding: Contemporary vellum. Soiled and cockled, spine concave and page edges worn, endleaves removed. Provenance: Heavily annotated in a contemporary hand in the margins and inside covers. Walter Pagel’s signature, undated.
First edition. Further editions appeared in , and . Sudhoff ; Ferguson, Paracelsus ; P and P (apparently identical); Ritter ; Muller p. , Mylius (héritiers) ; Bird ; Wellcome . A collection of treatises on natural science, including chapters on metals and minerals, as well as botany, pharmacy and medical subjects. Edited by Michael Schütz, known as Toxites.
PARACELSUS (–) Expositio vera harum imaginum olim Nurenbergae repertarum ex fundatissimo verae magiae Vaticinio deducta... Anno M. D. LXX. [Colophon: excusum anno post Christum natum, M.D.LXX. Basle?: no place or printer’s imprint, (Beinecke suggests Basle, Peter Perna), . vo: A–F, leaves, ff. []. Italic letter with Roman headings. Woodcut initials and woodcut or typemetal tailpieces. woodcut illustrations ( x mm) the last repeated on the titlepage, and a large wooduct of a monster on the final leaf above the colophon. x mm. Light soiling, a few marginal wormholes. Binding: Recent calf. Provenance: A few words of early annotation and several of the woodcuts heightened in pen and ink, rather faded. First edition in Latin (first edition, Außlegung der figuren , reprinted in ). Sudhoff ; Ferguson, Paracelsus ; P. This little book contains an amusing series of woodcuts satirizing the Papacy. This is based on the teachings of Joachim of Flora (c, –), Cistercian abbot and mystic whose followers – a sect known as “Joachists” or “Joachimists” – saw in the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II the antichrist already on earth. Paracelsus’ commentary is not, however, sympathetic to the Reformation but attacks the hierarchical struggles of the various religious factions within the Church and anticipates a regeneration of the Papacy.
PARACELSUS (–) Astronomia magna; oder, Die gantze Philosophia sagax der grossen und kleinen Welt... Darinn er lehrt des gantzen natürlichen Liechts vermögen, und unvermögen, auch alle philosophische, und astronomische Geheimnussen der grossen und kleinen Welt... M. D. LXXI. [Colophon:] Gedruckt zu Franckfurt am Mayn, bey Martin Lechler, in verlegung Hieronymi Feyerabends. Anno M. D. LXXI. Frankfurt: Martin Lechler for Jerome Feyerabend (the woodcut device on the title and colophon is that of Sigmund Feyerabend), .
Folio: a–b, A–Q, R–S, T–Z, A–C, D, E–F, G (blanks S and G), leaves, ff. [], , [, blank], –, [, colophon], [, blank]. Gothic letter, title printed in red and black, large woodcut device on title and colophon leaf, several series of woodcut initials. x mm. Very light browning; a fine clean copy. Binding: Contemporary limp vellum, border and saltire ruled in blind on upper cover, traces of ties. A little soiled. Provenance: No marks of ownership; a few contemporary annotations. First edition. P; Sudhoff ; Ferguson, Paracelsus ; Wellcome . ‘The final work, Great Astronomy or Sagacious Philosophy of the Great and Small World, is by far his most ambitious and voluminous work... It is a compendium of the magical beliefs and superstitions of his time; it also deals with man, the universe, salvation, occult sciences, and related matters, explaining all a magus might wish to know about chiromantics, pyromantics, signatures, characters, phrenology, algorithm, meteorology, cosmography, sorcerers, witches, ghosts, and technology. ‘Most disarming are its technological utopias, some of which are reminiscent of Sir Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis, written a hundred years later. Paracelsus provides formulas for weather forecasting, promises that magic, “with the aid of pipes and crystals,” one day will “carry the human voice over a distance of a hundred miles,” speculates on artfully constructed mirrors that may project pictues across the mountains or even into the future.’ (Pachter pp. –.) Henry Maximilian Pachter, Paracelsus; Magic into Science ().
PARACELSUS (–) De spiritibus planetarum sive metallorum... libri III. Eiusdem De tinctura physica liber I. De gradationibus liber I. De cementis liber I. De signis zodiaci & eius mysteriis. Georg. Phedronis Rhodochaei Pestis epidemicae curatio. Eiusdem Chirurgia minor. Basileae, M. D. LXXI. Basle: [Peter Perna], . to: a–t, unnumbered leaves. Gothic letter except main titlepage and subsidiary titlepages in Roman and Italic. Large decorated initials. woodcut diagrams containing magical symbols, other symbols printed from wood or type in the text. [bound with:]
Drehzehen Bücher... Paragraphorum, etc. Inn welchen gemelt wirt, volkomne und warhaffte Cur, vieler unnd schwerer Kranckheyten, So biß anher von andern Artzten, für unheilsam geacht worden. Jetzt züm ersten mal mit allem fleiß, in truck geben und außgehn lassen. Zü Basel, bey Peter Perna. M.D.LXXI. Basle: Peter Perna, .
to: A–M, unnumbered leaves. Gothic letter. Woodcut scene on title. x mm. Titlepage of first work slightly soiled and some light soiling throughout, corners worn. The paper slightly limp at the beginning but a good clean copy. Binding: Contemporary limp vellum made from a nicely rubricated manuscript leaf. Worn, ends of spine slightly frayed. Provenance: Benedictine monastery at Melk with inscription dated on title, library stamp on title, and bookplate on pastedown. About words of early annotation in the text of the first work and words in the second and lines of annotation on rear pastedown. I: First edition in German of this collection published in Latin in (see Sudhoff for the complex publishing history of these tracts). Sudhoff ; P; Wellcome . II: a collection of previously unpublished tracts in German and Latin. Sudhoff ; P; Wellcome . These two works may have been issued together and the Wellcome library copies are also bound together. The first publication (as bound) in this fine volume contains the German texts of several of Paracelsus’ most important writings on alchemy and astrology, as well as medical tracts; the second publication is a collection of medical tracts in German and Latin. Manuscript leaf used on binding: Germany, late fifteenth century, in a gothic cursive book hand. Text: Masses for the dead, specifically: for several priests, for one priest, for a man, for a woman, for the brothers, neighbours and benefactors of [our?] congregation. (Consuelo W. Dutschke.)
PARACELSUS, Libri XIIII. Paragraphorum (), bound with Arnaldus, Omnia, quae extant opera chymica (), no. below.
PARACELSUS (–) Fasciculus Paracelsicae medicinae veteris et non novae per flosculos chimicos et medicos, tanquam in compendiosum promptuarium collectus. In quo de vita, morte, et resuscitatione rerum, de tuenda et conservanda sanitate... Cum elucidationibus huius, aliorumque obscuriorum quorumcunq[ue] locorum atque dictionum inibi passim occurrentium et indice locupletissimo. Gerardo Dorneo interprete... Impressum Francofroti ad Meonum. Anno M. D. LXXXI. [Colophon:] Impressum Francofforti ad meonum, per Joannem Spies, impensis Sigismundi Feyerabendt. Anno M. D. LXXXI. Frankfurt: Johannes Spies for Sigismund Feyerabend, . to: (*) A–P Q, leaves, ff. [] []. Roman letter with Italic in prelims and index. Woodcut initials, woodcut tailpieces. x mm. Title soiled and frayed in the margins; extensive worming in the lower margins, occasionally affecting text. Moderate to heavy browning and some stains.
Binding: Seventeenth-century vellum made from a manuscript leaf, the sides lined with or sheets taken from a German manuscript on paper dated . Cover detatched from book block. Provenance: Inscription on title, somewhat faded, ‘Biblithecae [undeciphered] ex donatione praenobilis domini d. Lotharii [uneciphered] der feltz amptmanni in [undeciphered] Fr. placidus Cringer[?] anno ’. First edition. Sudhoff ; Ferguson, Paracelsus . A handbook of Paracelsian medicine, compiled by Gerard Dorn (c. – ), alchemist, physician and bibliophile. Dorn had studied with Adam von Bodenstein and, like Bodenstein, rescued and published many of Paracelsus’ manuscripts. The first part is a series of short theoretical chapters ‘Ex Paracelso’; this is followed by ‘De arcanis rerum naturalium ex medicina chemica Paracelsi’, a collection of receipts headed ‘Paracelsi praeparationes’. The third part is ‘De morborum curis’, an alphabetical listing of diseases and their treatment. The final section, presumably by Dorn, is ‘Paracelsi dictionarium’, an alphabetical list of medical terms and their interpretation. There is also an extensive index. Manuscript leaf used for binding: Germany, fifteenth century, in a formal gothic book hand. Text: Five readings from Isaiah for the Divine Office during Advent; possibly from a book intended for use in a secular (rather than a monastic) church since one of the readings bears a rubric in a later hand, [lectio viii?] followed by another reading without legible rubric (but presumably the th reading); the two following readings have rubrics as the first and the second lessons. (Consuelo W. Dutschke.)
PARACELSUS (–) Works, Quarto edition, Parts – and – only. Erster (–Fünffter; Achter–Zehender) Thiel Der Bücher und Schrifften... durch Johannem Huserum... Getruckt zu Basel, durch Conrad Waldkirch. Anno M. D. LXXXIX (–M. D. XCI). Basle: Konrad Waldkirch, –. of parts, to: Part : A B a–z A–Z *–* *, leaves, pp. [] []; Part : Aa–Zz AA–ZZ AAa–DDd, leaves, pp. []; Part : Aaa–Zzz AAa–ZZz AAA–XXX, leaves, pp. [] (i.e. , – omitted) []; Part : Aaaa–Zzzz AAaa– ZZzz AAAa–SSSs TTTt, leaves, pp. []; Part : *** a)–z) A)–O) (O)+) P)–R) S) T)–Z) a)–g), leaves, pp. [] [] – []; Appendix: A)–Z) a)–d) e) f)–l), leaves, pp. ; Part : *) a)–z) A)–X) Y) ***); Z) aa)–gg), leaves, pp. [] [] –; Part : ***) (–***)) a)–z) A)–Z) Aa)–Kk) Ll) *), of leaves, pp. [] [], ; Part : *) a)–z) A–Z) aa)–oo) pp), leaves, pp. and a folding table inserted after i) not included in the pagination.
Mostly Gothic letter with a few passages in Roman or Italic. Titles printed in red and black within fleuron borders. Woodcut and typographic initials, head and tailpieces. Woodcut portrait of Paracelsus in the prelims of each part, repeated at the end in several, and Paracelsus’ arms and printer’s device on final leaves of each part except the last. Woodcut diagrams, magical symbols, woodcuts of bishops etc (in the Expositio) and emblematic woodcuts (in the Propheceien), all in the Appendix to part . x mm. Parts –: single round worm hole in margin of first volume (Parts and ), touching one or two letters only; light foxing and browning and some waterstaining, only heavy at the end of the third volume. Parts –. Folding table in Part torn in the fold with loss of several lines and bound as two leaves. Prelims worn and soiled, corners rounded; light foxing, browning and staining. Binding: Parts – in volumes, contemporary vellum boards. Joints torn and the rear inner hinge of the first volume broken; parts – in a single volume, contemporary blindstamped pigskin over wooden boards, remains of clasps. Very worn but sound. Provenance: Parts – with inscription ‘Monrii. S. August. Monacsii [Munich]’ on titles; parts –, nineteenth-century booklabel of Friedrich Hugentobler, Altfätten and some nineteenth-century notes on endleaves. First collected edition, second state of titlepage to Part dated (as Adams and Durling) rather than (as Sudhoff and Bird). A folio reprint was published at Strasbourg in and the surgical works in . Sudhoff – and –a; Ferguson, Paracelsus – and –; Adams P– (parts , and – but without the Appendix to Part ); Bird ; Durling . Johannes Huser’s quarto edtition of Paracelsus’ works is ‘still definitive’ according to Pagel. No other complete edition of Paracelsus’ works in their original form was attempted until Sudhoff’s edition (–), on which Pagel comments: ‘it cannot be said that this edition, however valuable, superseded Huser – especially not the carefully prepared Quarto of and the surgical Folio of . Even the Huser Folio of , supposed to be inferior to the Quarto, has the inestimable advantage of an index, which is still lacking in Sudhoff’s edition.’ (Pagel, Paracelsus, p. ). Although there is no consolidated index in this quarto edition, each part has its own massive index, the final unpaginated sections of up to pages in double columns. Pagel notes that the Huser Quarto ‘is now difficult to obtain,’ and indeed many copies are imperfect. Pagel was evidently only able to acquire this mixed set of the quarto (as well as the and folios which were sold at Sothebys in ). This set of the Huser Quarto comprises parts – in volumes in good condition in contemporary vellum boards; and vols – in a single volume, rather worn and slightly imperfect in contemporary blind stamped pigskin over wooden boards. The set thus lacks Parts and ; and Part lacks a preliminary leaf with a portrait (of which there are a total of other impressions in the other parts) and the folding table in Part is torn in the fold and lacking several lines.
PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA, Giovanni Francesco (–) De auro libri tres. Opus sane aureum in quo de auro tum aestimando, tum conficiendo, tum utendo ingeniose & docte differitur. Cum explicatione perutili et periocunda complurium, tam philosophiae quàm facultatis medicae arcanorum. Venetiis: apud Ioannem Baptistam Somaschum, . Venice: Giovanni Battista Somasco, . to: † A–G H, leaves, pp. [] []. Italic letter with Roman headings. Woodcut printer’s device on title, woodcut initials. x mm. Light stain on title, light waterstains in the margins of a few leaves. A fine fresh and clean copy. Binding: Contemporary limp vellum, remains of ties. Minor stains on upper cover. Provenance: No annotations or early marks of ownership. First edition. Reprinted at Ferrara in the following year and at Ursel in . ; Adams P; Duveen p. ; Wellcome . An alchemical work attributed to Pico, but of dubious authenticity. ‘While not minimizing the difficulties of transmutation, the work lists five ways of making gold by art, contends that this is easier today when metals and minerals are mined which were unknown to antiquity, and gives some recent instances of successful transmutation. It also tells of a consumptive who was cured by potable gold.’ (Thorndike V, p. ).
PIETRO D’ABANO (c. –c. ) Conciliator... nuper post omnes impressiones ubiq[ue] loco[rum] excussas accuratissime recognitus... Eiusdem libellus de venenis. Questio Cararii de venenis ad terminum. Simphoriani in ipsum co[n]ciliatore[m] cribrationes. Cesaris optati Citrarei questio de flobothomia in pleuresi. Eisudem opusculum de febre sanguinis... [Colophon:] Impressa omnia Venetiis accurate solitaq[ue] diligentia Impensis nobilis viri domini Luce Antonii Iunta Florentini in eiusdem officina. Anno ab incarnatione verbi. Millesimo quingentesimo vigesimonsexto pridie nonas Augusti. Venice: Lucantionio Giunta, . Folio: ✠ a–z & ? # A–D E–H (blank H), leaves, ff. [] []. Gothic letter in double columns. Printer’s device on Hv. -line historiated initials and smaller decorated initials; large woodcut diagram on f. r, several smaller diagrams, and a woodcut on f. v ( x mm), with type let into the block, showing two male figures.
x mm. Prelims lightly soiled; minor marginal waterstains on a few leaves. A fresh clean copy. Binding: Contemporary vellum boards, remains of ties. Lower spine compartment defective, spine ends and board edges worn. Provenance: Inscription on terminal blank recording the birth day in August of ‘Pomponio’ (transcribed below); Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. Later edition (first ). This edition appears to be a reprint of the Venice, edition. There were at least fifteenth-century and sixteenth-century editions. This edition has corrections and annotations by Symphorian Champier, introduced in the Giunta edition of . . ‘In his Conciliator, d’Abano undertook a superb synthetic program: the reconciliation of medicine with philosophy. In this he states questions that give rise to as many controversies between physicians and philosophers... D’Abano maintained more or less that “the art of medicine must not consider only things that can be seen and felt.” Hence he possessed a good knowledge of anatomy; he affirmed, in opposition to the authority of Aristotle (who thought the nerves originated in the heart) that the center of all sensation and motion resides in the brain. His notions of the central nervous system are probably derived from direct visualization. According to d’Abano, the doctor is the symbol of the zealous servant and the collaborator of nature... [He] must be free in his reasoning and must have no ties with scholastic authorities. Such ideas imply a revolt against established and wearisome tradition: they prepare for the rupture with the past and indicate a new path for scientific progress. D’Abano’s voice was one of those that, at the dawn of humanism, announced the beginning of a scientific revival.’ (Loris Premuda, DSB, :). Pietro d’Abano studied at Padua; he lived for a time in Constantinople before going to Paris around where he attended the University and perhaps taught, and composed the Conciliator. It was his most famous work, for which he was often called Petrus Conciliator. In he returned to Padua and taught philosophy and medicine for several years. This edition, apparently reprinted from the edition, contains also Petrus Cararius (d. ), De venenis ad tempus and Symphorien Champier’s additions and corrections to d’Abano’s text. The woodcut of two male figures showing the muscles is similar to an image used by Berengario in his Commentaria () but the two are independent. The image was not in the first edition of but first appeared in the Venice edition (Sarton p. ). This very good copy has no contemporary annotations in the text, but a rather delightful inscription in the final blank leaf recording the birth of Pomponio, no doubt the owner’s son, after hours of labour: ‘Pomponio nacque alli sei d’Agosto de giobbia alla fine de dodici hore in bona hora et in bon ponto sia nato.’ (Pomponio was born on the th of August, , of Giobbia, at the end of hours in a good hour and in a good point [conjunction?] may he be born.) Sarton III, –; Thorndike, II, pp. – and .
PORTA, Giambattista della (–) Phytognomonica... octo libris contenta. In quibus nova, facillimaque affertur methodus, qua plantarum, animalium, metalloru[m], rerum deniq[ue] omniu[m] ex prima extimae faciei inspectione quivis abditas vires assequatur. Accedunt ad haec confirmanda infinita propemodu[m] selectiora secreta, summo labore, temporis dispendio, et impensarum iactura vestigata, explorataq[ue]... Neapoli, apud Horatium Salvianum, [Imprimatur:] . Novembris . [Colophon:] M. D. LXXXVIII. Naples: Orazio Salviani, . Folio: A–R A–C (blank C), leaves, pp. []. Roman letter with Italic headings. Title within a woodcut border made up of blocks which are also used in the text as headpieces, woodcut initials. Woodcut portrait of the author on the verso of the titlepage and large woodcuts (c. x mm) in the text, including repeats. x mm. Title a little dustsoiled and with worm holes in two corners affecting the woodcut in the upper-right corner, the worming continuing only to the end of sig. A well away from the text; the leaves of sig. DD supplied from another copy and re-margined at the foot, light browning to a few leaves of the index. A fine fresh and clean copy. Binding: Eighteenth-century English sprinkled calf, marbled endleaves. Rebacked and corners repaired. First edition, with the index (sigs A–C) which is often lacking. Some copies are dated . Reprinted at Frankfurt in with copies of the woodcuts. ; Adams P; Durling ( state of title); Hunt ; Mortimer, Italian ; Wellcome . One of the most attractively illustrated herbals of the sixteenth-century. ‘It is sometimes held that della Porta was the real originator of the botanical Doctrine of Signatures in any approximation to a scientific form. The theory was that Divine Providence had formed plants in such a way as to indicate the ailments they would cure (e.g. a walnut looked like the human brain, so would cure head ailments). Protagonists of this theory quarrelled violently with those who believed in astrological medicine.’ (Hunt.) The superbly designed and cut illustrations combine plants and animals with human body parts in various relationships. Some show the part the plant resembles, which is therefore a suitable medicine, for example eye-bright for the eye; or they show the cause of the insult, such as the scorpion, together with the plants which resemble it and are therefore antidotes. The four part title border incorporates plants and animals in the side panels; Porta’s device of a lynx with his motto ‘Aspicit et inspicit’ in the top panel (re-used at the start of the text); and the figure of Pomona in the bottom panel. The extensive index, pages in double columns, was probably issued later as it is present, as in this copy, in only about % of copies. Adams records that it is present in of copies in Cambridge and Mortimer records that it is
present in of Harvard copies but in neither of the British Library copies. It is present in the National Library of Medicine copy which has a variant state of the titlepage dated . Agnes Arber, Herbals (), various references but especialy p. ff.
PORTA, Giambattista della (–) De refractione optices parte. Libri novem. De refractione, & eius accidentibus. De pilae crystallinae refractione. De oculorum partium anatome, & earum muniis. De visione. De visionis accidentibus. Cur binis oculis rem unam cernamus. De his, quae intra oculum fiunt, & foris existimantur. De specillis. De coloribus ex refractione, s. de iride, lacteo circulo, &c. Ex officina Horatii Salviani. Napoli, apud Io. Iacobum Carlinum, & Antonium Pacem, . Naples: Orazio Salviani for Giovanni Giacomo Carlino and Antonio Pace, . to: A–F χ (–χ blank), leaves, pp. []. Roman and Italic letter. Woodcut device on title, woodcut headpieces and initials and about woodcut diagrams. The dedication to Pisani on χ is on heavier paper and is sometimes inserted in the prelims. x mm. Clean tears in X and A–B, the first apparently an original paper flaw; diagram on p. (which extends across the margin) shaved; light waterstains in lower margins, some very light foxing and soiling. A very good clean copy. Binding: Seventeenth-century vellum boards, green sprinkled edges, MS title, small green label ‘v. Z’ at foot of spine. Provenance: . Extensive annotations in an early hand in the margins and pages of the rear endleaves. . Samuel Karl Kechel à Hollenstein (b. ) with inscription on title ‘Sum Samuelis Caroli Kechelii a Hallenstein’ and annotations in his hand. . Franz Xaver von Zach (–) with his stamp on title and label on spine, and annotations probably in his hand. First edition, with the inserted dedication to Ottavio Pisani, not found in all copies (designated as issue B in ). ; Adams P; Wellcome ; Riccardi ., . Osler . The major work on optics, vision and perception, by ‘the father of modern optics’ (Osler). It is a more thorough treatment of the subjects introduced in the edition of Porta’s Magiae naturalis. ‘Porta’s contribution to the theory and practice of Renaissance optics is found in book XVII of the Magiae of and in the De refractione of . He did not invent the camera obscura, but he is the first to report adding a concave lens to the aperture. He also juxtaposed concave and convex lenses and reports various experiments with them.... His comparison of the lens in the camera obscura to the pupil in the human eye did provide an easily understandable
demonstration that the source of visual images lay outside the eye as well as outside the darkened room. He thus ended on a popular level an age-old controversy. Porta’s work lies conceptually and chronologically between Risner’s Opticae thesaurus of and Kepler’s Ad vitellionem paralipomena of . He was thoroughly familiar with the former and did not attain the geometrical certainty of the latter.’ (M. Howard Rienstra, DSB :b.) This is an excellent copy with an interesting provenance and several layers of annotation. The earliest annotations are probably contemporary. These have been added to by the first recorded owner, Samuel Karl Kechel. This Bohemian astronomer lived at Leiden from and made many observations and corresponded with Boulliau, Huygens, Hevelius and van Schooten. Later the book was owned by the astronomer von Zach. A note on the pastedown stating that the book was overlooked by Riccioli and Lalande; and that in the preface Porta mentions the telescope, is probably by von Zach. The information on Kechel is from Wilbur Applebaum and Robert A. Hatch, ‘Boulliau, Mercator, and Horrocks’s “Venus in Sole visa”: three unpublished letters’, Journal of the History of Astronomy () n. , p. ; Lalande indexes a work by Kechel mentioned by Pingré.
PORTALEONE, Abraham ben David (–) De auro dialogi tres. In quibus non solùm de auri in re medica facultate, verum etiam de specifica eius, & caeterarum rerum forma, ac duplici potestate, qua mixtis in omnibus illa operatur, copiosè disputatur...Venetiis, Apud Jo. Baptistam à Porta, . Venice: Giovanni Battista Porta, . to: A–B C D (blanks C, D), leaves, pp. [] []. Errata on Ar and Dr. Italic letter with Roman headings and prelims. Woodcut printer’s device on title, woodcut initials and headpieces. Large engraved device on Cv (oval, x mm). x mm. Title dustsoiled and chipped, soiling and browning, mostly quite light. Binding: Recent half calf. Provenance: Early signature ‘Augustini Blyij Med’ on title, repeated on p. and p. ; early oval stamp on title (unidentified). First edition. ; Adams A; Durling ; Duveen p. ; Neu ; Wellcome . Portaleone’s first work, a Latin dialogue on the medicinal properties of gold. After experiment and discussion the Jewish doctor concludes that gold has no medicinal properties. ‘The work is worth studying in the context of the history of science, as the author presents his own scientific ideas and compares them to those of traditional authorities as well as modern authors. Here we should be aware of two aspects. The first is a mistrust of alchemy as a doctrine of occult essences and universal sympathies, close to some aspects of the Cabala. Portaleone... is here suspicious of this kind of mysticism.
‘On the other hand, he is quite close to the alchemists in their role of experimenters. He creates the character of Dynachrisus, who can be taken as representing himself, and shows him dressed as an alchemist and defying the ironic questions put to him. This form of dress, he explains, is in no way magic, it is merely functional, making it easier to carry out certain chemical experiments. For only on experimentation can truth be founded.’ (Guetta p. ). Portaleon was descended from the most eminent of the Italian Jewish medical dynasties of the Renaissance. He studied at Bologna, Mantua and Pavia, where he took his MD in . He was appointed physician to the Dukes of Mantua, the Gonzaga family, and wrote Consilia medica, on general medical practice, and the present work, dedicated to his patron. The fine engraved device on Cv faces the author’s address to the reader, ‘Lectori amico, Abraham è Porta Leonis Mantuanus Medicus Hebraeus. S. D.’ and shows a lion fighting a cock under the motto ‘Adiutor non timebo’. notes a variant B, ‘Aggiunto in fine il fasc. D’. However only one pagination is given so it is unclear what, if anything is added. The final gathering here, and according to Adams, is D, of which D, recto and verso, contain errata and D is a blank. Thorndike V, pp. –; Cecil Roth, The Jews in the Renaissance () pp. – , ; Alessandro Gueta, ‘Avraham Portaleone: from Science to Mysticism’ in Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century () I, pp. –.
PORZIO, Simone (–) Five works bound together. . De humana mente disputatio, . to: A–L M (blank M), leaves, pp. [].
. De Dolore, . to: a–g h (blank h), leaves, pp. [].
. De coloribus oculorum, . to: a–g h (–h, blank), of leaves, pp. [].
. An homo bonus vel malus volens fiat, . to: a–f g, leaves, leaves, pp. [].
. De puella germanica, quae fere biennium vixerat sine cibo, potuque, . to A–B, leaves, pp. .
[All with imprint:] Florentiae Apud Laurentium Torrentinum [except , which has no publisher’s name]. Florence: Lorenzo Torrentino, –. to: collations as above. All in Roman letter with Italic headings and preliminaries. Woodcut initials. x mm. Washed, some residual light staining and foxing, good large copies. Binding: Nineteenth-century quarter morocco.
First editions. , , , and ; Adams P, , , and cf. P, another edition, [?]. Bird (no. ) and (no. ); Durling , , , and ; Wellcome, (no. ), and (no. ) and (no. ). A good collection of Porzio’s works, probably bound together since publication. Little has been written on Porzio and in the literature on the history of medicine only his opthalmological works are given any attention. These are De coloribus... commentariis illustratus which Torrentini published in and the De coloribus oculorum in the present collection, described as ‘One of the earliest monographs on ophthalmology in which the author attempts to explain the cause of the varieties of colors of eyes (Albert, Norton and Huertes ). There is an article on Porzio in the Encyclopaedia Britannica (th edition, , , p. ) which I quote in full: ‘SIMONE PORZIO (–), Italian philosopher, was born and died at Naples. Like his greater contemporary, Pomponazzi, he was a lecturer on medicine at Pisa (–), and in later life gave up purely scientific study for speculation on the nature of man. His philosophic theory was identical with that of Pomponazzi, whose De immortalitate animi he defended and amplified in a treatise De mente humana. There is told of him a story which illustrates the temper of the early humanistic revival in Italy. When he was beginning his first lecture at Pisa he opened the meteorological treatises of Aristotle. The audience, composed of students and townspeople, interrupted him with the cry Quid de anima? (We would hear about the soul), and Porzio was constrained to change the subject of his lecture. He professed the most open materialism, denied immortality in all forms and taught that the soul of man is homogeneous with the soul of animals and plants, material in origin and incapable of separate existence.’
PORZIO, Simone (–) De rerum naturalium principiis... Neapoli excudebat Matthias Cancer. [Colophon:] per Matthiam Cancer sumptibus marci Antonii Fendrii bibliopolae M. D. LIII. Mense novem. Naples: Marcantonio Fenario for Mattia Cancer, . to: A–V, leaves unpaginated. Italic letter with Roman headings. Woodcut initials. x mm. Title dustsoiled, a heavily pressed copy. Binding: Nineteenth-century quarter vellum. Provenance: Contemporary inscription ‘[undeciphered] S. Rogne’ on title and annotations in the same hand on about pages; signature of William Godolphin FRS (–) on title. First edition. Reprinted in , and . Adams P; . One of several works of the Renaissance claiming to account for universal principles of everything within nature, maintaining that such principles are causal to their properties. This work was a pre-cursor of Telesio’s anti-
Aristotelian De rerum natura iuxta propria principia, the first parts of which were published in (see no. below). Porzio was a follower of Pietro Pomponazzi whose De naturalium effectuum causis sive de incantationibus was written in but not published until . Blum points out that the title of Pererius, De communibus omnium rerum naturalium principiis et affectionibus () echoes the titles of these works by Pomponazzi, Porzio and Telesio. It would be interesting to know when William Godolphin acquired this copy as his engagement with science seems to have been negligible after his election to the Royal Society in . Shortly after this he became a member of parliament and spent the rest of his life as a diplomat, becoming ambassador to Spain in . Richard Blum, ‘Benedictus Pererius: Renaissance Culture at the Origins of Jesuit Science’, Science and Education, () –.
POSTEL, Guillaume (–) Quatuor librorum de orbis terrae concordia primus... Excudebat ipsi authori Petrus Gromorsus sub Phoenicis signo, iuxta scholas Remenses. Non sine privilegio. [No date]. Paris: Pierre Gromors, [?]. to: a–t, leaves, ff. [] []. Italic letter with Roman headings, words quoted in Hebrew. Title within a woodcut border made up of blocks, woodcut initials. x mm. Title dustsoiled and some light soiling in the text; waterstains extending into the text to half way through the book and in the margins thereafter. Still a fairly fresh copy, and with good margins. Binding: Nineteenth-century quarter morocco. Rubbed. First edition. Adams P; Bouwsma ; Quaritch . This is the privately printed first part of what Postel himself considered to be his most important work, De orbis terrae Concordia. ‘His general purpose [in De orbis terrae Concordia] was to provide a rational justification of Christian doctrine, to refute the teachings of Islam, Judaism, and paganism, and to suggest certain methods of conversion. The whole was intended as a basic manual for missionaries. In the development of Postel’s thought the work is above all important as marking the emergence in his mind of the view that the fundamental method for the communication of religious truth must be rational demonstration.’ It was ‘the literary instrument for the conversion of the world to the Catholic faith.’ (Bouwsma pp. , ). De orbis terrae Concordia was written shortly after Postel’s dismissal as professor of Arabic at Paris in . He submitted the work to the Sorbonne for approval and while waiting for an answer he had the first book privately printed for his friends. But his manuscript was returned by the Sorbonne marked ‘ad facultatem non pertinens’, and Postel sent it to Oporinus in Basle who published the complete work in . Postel was born in Barenton in Normandy and educated at the Collège de Sainte-Barbe in Paris. He learned many languages and gained a reputation as
a mathematician and a philosopher. He accompanied Jean de la Forest as official interpreter on his embassy to Istambul and there learned Arabic from Turkish Christians. He also collected Eastern manuscripts for the French Royal Library. After his return to France, Postel was made a professor at the new Collège Royal and inaugurated Arabic studies in Europe. He was in Rome in and was briefly a member of the Society of Jesus but was expelled for maintaining that the French King should nominate a French Pope. From Rome Postel moved to Venice to continue his research on the Cabbala. After further travels he returned to France but was back in Italy in to defend his works which had been put on the Venetian Index by the Inquisition. He was arrested, escaped and returned to France via Basel. Besides promoting the study of Arabic scientific texts, Postel was one of the scholars behind the great Antwerp polyglot bible ( and ). Detlev Auvermann, with an introduction by Alastair Hamilton, Guillaume Postel (–). Bernard Quaritch Catalogue (); William J. Bouwsma, Concordia mundi: the career and thought of Guillaume Postel (–) (Cambridge, MA, ); Claude Postel, Les écrits de Guillaume Postel publiés en France, et leurs éditeurs, – (Geneva, ).
POSTEL, Guillaume (–) De Etruriae regionis, quae prima in orbe Europaeo habitata est, originibus, institutis, religione & moribus, & imprimis de aurei saeculi doctrina et vita praestantissima quae in divinationis sacrae usu posita est, Guilielmi Postelli commentatio. Florentiae MDLI. Florence: [Lorenzo Torrentino], . to: a–z A–H I, leaves, pp. []. Roman letter with Italic headings and prelims. Title within a woodcut border incorporating a view of Florence. Woodcut initials. x mm. Light waterstain in upper corner extending into the text in a few gatherings. A good fresh and clean copy. Binding: Eighteenth-century vellum boards. Provenance: Etched bookplate of Frederick North, th Earl of Guilford (–) with Greek inscription ‘O arkhon tes Ionis Akademias Komes Guilphord’. First edition. ; Adams P; Bouwsma ; Quaritch . Postel presents Etruria, or Tuscany, as the cradle of civilisation. This is an important work in the debates centred on the Accademia Fiorentina over the antiquity – and superiority – of the Tuscan language which was traced back to the sacred language of Noah. It also had a political purpose, aimed at strengthening the alliance between the French monarchy and the Medicis of Florence. Catherine de’ Medici was the queen of France and the book is dedicated to Cosimo I de Medici. This copy belonged to a campaigner for another ancient language and civilisation, Frederick North who established the Ionian Academy on Corfu in , the first Greek university of modern times.
POSTEL, Guillaume (–) Abrahami patriarchae liber Jezirah, sive formationis mundi... Vertebat ex Hebraeis, & commentariis illustrabat . ad Babylonis ruinam & corrupti mundi finem, Guilielmus Postellus, restitutus. Parisiis, vaeneunt ipsi authori, sive interpreti, G. Postello. In scholis Italorum. Paris: for the author, . mo: A–G H, unnumbered leaves. Roman and Italic letter with quotations in Greek and Hebrew and a page of Hebrew on Er. x mm. Light waterstains in upper margins; wormholes in lower outer corners, well away from the text. A good copy. Binding: Contemporary or early calf, blind panelled sides with gilt centre and corner ornaments, nineteenth-century reback. Spine and corners worn. Provenance: Early underlining and marginal marks; inscription on pastedown ‘Nutt (from Franchi) : /’. Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. First edition. Wellcome ; BM STC, p. . Postel’s Latin translations of the Zohar, the Sefer Yetzirah, and the Sefer haBahir, the fundamental works of Jewish Cabbala. The first Hebrew printing of these works did not appear for another ten years. Based on his study of the Cabbala and its use of gender symbolism, Postel believed that a female messiah had arrived on earth who would usher in a new age of political and religious harmony (Petry). Yvonne Petry, Gender, Kabbalah, and the Reformation: The Mystical Theology of Guillaume Postel (Leiden, ).
RECHTER GEBRAUCH Rechter Gebrauch der Alchimei, Mitt vil bißher verborgenen, nutzbaren vnnd lustigen Künsten, Nit allein den fürwitzigen Alchimismisten, sonder allen kunstbaren Weckleutten, in und ausserhalb feurs. Auch sunst aller menglichen inn vil wege zugebrauchen. Die Character, Figürliche bedeuttungen, und namen der Metall, Corpus und Spiritus. Der Alchimistischen verlateineten wörter außlegung. [Frankfurt: Christian Egenolff the elder] (no imprint, text dated at the end), . to: A–G (blank G), leaves, ff. XXVII [ blank]. Gothic letter, woodcut on titlepage. x . Marginal worming in last few leaves, well away from the text. A good clean copy.
Binding: Recent quarter morocco over marbled boards. Provenance: One word annotation on f. IIII in an early hand. First edition. In this copy there are three asterisks below the woodcut on the title where : (Yale, National Gallery of Art, Hagley) describes a monogram, ‘VF’. An enlarged edition was published as Künsbüchlin (Augsburg, and again in ) and there were many later edtions and adaptations (see the article by Ferguson cited below). Authorship has been attributed to Georg Agricola, but Ferguson found no evidence to support this. R ; Ferguson II, p. . ‘The contents are purely practical and consist of chemical receipts for everyday wants and have nothing to do with alchemy strictly so called. In fact the title affords an early use of the word alchemical in the later wider sense of chemical. The substances employed are common and the operations are such as would be familiar to various classes of artists and workmen.’ (Ferguson, Bibliotheca Chemica, II, p. ). The title woodcut shows a jeweller in his shop. John Ferguson, ‘Some Early Treatises on Technological Chemistry’, Proceedings of the [Royal] Philosophical Society of Glasgow, () ; ‘Supplement,’ Ibid. () .
REUCHLIN, Johann (–) De arte cabbalistica libri tres [Colophon: Hagenau apud Thomam Anshelmum Mense Martio. M.D.XVII. Hagenau: Thomas Anshelm, . Folio: A B–N O, leaves, ff. [] LXXIX []. Roman letter with quotations in Greek and Hebrew, including long passages. Large woodcut printer’s device ( x mm) on title. x mm. Title soiled; worm holes and short tracks, confined to the margins for most of the book but a few small holes through the text in the last two gatherings; marginal waterstains, quite heavy in places; a few gatherings lightly browned; a good large and fresh copy. Binding: Recent sheep. First edition. Another edition was published at Hagenau, by Johann Setzer, in . R ; Adams R; Benzing . Reuchlin’s second book on the Cabbala, following De verbo mirifico (). By now Reuchlin had a much fuller knowledge of the subject and De arte cabbalistica is much more objective and sympathetic. It was to become the bible of Christian Cabbalism (Secret p. ). Reuchlin had met Pico della Mirandola, the first to introduce the Cabbala into Christian culture, in and had been inspired by him to study the Cabbala. Reuchlin began to study Hebrew with Jakob ben Jehiel Loans, physician to the emperor Frederick at Linz, in , and later studied with Obadja Sforno of Cesena in Rome in . ‘For many years Reuchlin had been increasingly absorbed in Hebrew studies, which had for him more than a mere philological interest. Though he
was always a good Catholic, and even took the habit of an Augustinian monk when he felt that his death was near, he was too thorough a humanist to be a blind follower of the church... his Greek studies had interested him in those fantastical and mystical systems of later times with which the Cabbala has no small affinity. Following Pico, he seemed to find in the Cabbala a profound theosophy which might be of the greatest service for the defence of Christianity and the reconciliation of science with the mysteries of faith – an unhappy delusion indeed, but one not surprising in that strange time of ferment. Reuchlin’s mystico-cabbalistic ideas and objects were expounded in the De Verbo Mirifico, and finally in the De Arte Cabbalistica ().’ (Encyclopedia Britannica th edition, , xxiii, pp. –.) Reuchlin, German humanist and Hebrew scholar, was born at Pforzheim in the Black Forest. He studied at Freiburg, Paris and Basle. After serving the Duke of Württemberg as companion, judge, and ambassador (–) he became judge at Tübingen. From to he was professor of Greek and Hebrew at the University at Ingolstadt; and from till his death at the University of Tübingen. One of the leaders of German Humanism, Reuchlin introduced the study of Greek and especially of Hebrew into western Europe and was – with Luther, Melanchthon, Erasmus and Hutten – among the promoters of the Reformation. Josef Benzing Bibliographie der Schriften Johannes Reuchlins im . und . Jahrhundert (); François Secret, Les Kabbalistes Chrétiennes de la Renaissance (, pp. –).
REUSNER, Hieronymus (b. ) Pandora, Das ist, Die Edleste Gab Gottes, oder Der werde unnd heilsamme Stein der Weysen, mit welchem die alten Philosophi, auch Theophrastus Paracelsus, die unvolkom[m]ene Metallen, durch gewalt des Fewrs verbessert: sampt allerlen schädliche und unheilsame Kranckheiten, innerlich und eusserlich haben vertrieben. Ein Guldener Schatz, welcher durch einen Liebhaber diser Kunst, von seinem Untergang errettet ist worden, unnd zu nutz allen Menschen, sürnem[m]lich den Liebhabern der Paracelsischen Artzney, erst jetz in Truck verfertiget. Getruckt zu Basel. Anno M. D. LXXXII. [Colophon:] Getruckt zü Basel, bey Samuel Apiario. Basle: Samuel Apiarius, . vo: (:) A–T V, leaves, pp. [] (i.e. ) [] (last page blank). Gothic letter. Woodcut illustrations including full page. x mm. Headlines cropped, leaves with full page illustrations mm wide and folded in to preserve images; margins of several leaves at the beginning and end restored; some isolated browning and staining but on the whole a good copy. Binding: Nineteenth-century quarter morocco Provenance: Fourteen word annotation on p. ; nineteenth-century bookplate with initials ‘D. P.’; Walter Pagel’s signature, undated.
First edition. Reprinted in and . Duveen mentions a edition, reissued in and with the woodcuts replaced with engravings, but I cannot now trace any copies of these editions; there was also an edition printed at Hamburg . Duveen p. ; R; Sudhoff, Paracelsus, pp. –. Duveen calls this ‘one of the rarest and most interesting alchemical books’. It is celebrated for the extraordinary symbolical illustrations. ‘[The illustrations] originated in a work which has apparently never been printed, The Book of the Holy Trinity. Four fifteenth-century manuscripts of this work exist (or rather existed) in Germany... [It] contains the earliest known representation of a Hermaphrodite and makes a very large use of Christian symbolism by comparing chemical operations with the Passion of Christ. This is highly reminsicent of the tract De secreto naturae, usually ascribed to Arnaldus de Villanova. We find the fall of mankind symbolizing the destruction of the impure metals: this is also frequently found in the English alchemist George Ripley’s works. Sublimation is symbolized by the Ascension and the idea that the Philosopher’s Stone is composed of body, soul, and Sprit leads to a comparison with the Holy Trinity and gives the work its name. These last ideas frequently meet in later alchemists, e.g. Petrus Bonus.’ (Duveen, , p. .) In his Bibliotheca Alchemica et Chemica (, p. ) Duveen calls Pandora ‘An extremely rare book and of very great interest for the symbolical pictures it contains’ and draws attention to the long list of alchemical terms explained in German printed at the end. Denis Duveen, ‘Notes on Some Alchemical Books (Reusner, Khunrath, Kertzenmacher)’, The Library, th Series, I () –.
RHAZES, Liber nonus ad Almansorem (), bound with Ibn But.la¯n, Tacuini sanitatis (), no. above.
¯ ZI¯ , Abu¯ Bakr Muh. ammad ibn Zakarı¯ya¯ (?– RHAZES – AL-RA ?); VESALIUS, Andreas (–) Summi medici opera exquistiora, quibus nihil utilius ad actus practicos extat, omnia enim penitus quae habet aut Hippocrates obscuriora, aut Galenus fusiora, fidelisime doctissimeq[ue] exponit, & in lucem profert. Per Gerardum Toletanum... Andream Vesalium... Albanum Torinum... Basileae in Officina Henrichi Petri. [Colophon:]... mense Martio, anno M.D.XLIIII. Basle: Heinrich Petri, . Folio: a–d A–Zz AA BB–CC DD, leaves, pp. [] []. Roman letter with Italic headings. Woodcut printer’s device on verso of last leaf, woodcut initials. x mm. Title and last leaf soiled and with erased inscriptions; annotation partially washed out of T leaving a stain; waterstain in lower
corners of sigs Oo–Xx; corners of leaves Rr– restored; some light discolouration in places, but on the whole a clean copy with good margins. Binding: Eighteenth-century English mottled calf, old rebacking. Corners worn Provenance: Early inscriptions on title erased; engraved armorial bookplate on verso of title, ‘E Libris Thomae Addams M.D. Coll. Med. Lond. Soc.’, probably Thomas Addams, MB of Trinity College, Cambridge, FRCP and physician to St Thomas’s Hospital (see Munk); inscriptions on endleaf: ‘John Read Corrie, Ap. ’; and ‘J. King jun. from R. Jones June ’. Walter Pagel’s signature dated . First edition the Liber ad Almansorem to contain Vesalius’ paraphrase of the th book (the th book was first printed in ; all books in ; and Vesalius’ paraphrase in ). M ; Adams R; Bird ; Durling ; Manchester ; Wellcome . Cushing, Vesalius, I.-. This edition of the ten books of al-Ra¯zı¯’s Liber ad Almansorem contains the third printing of Vesalius, Paraphrasis, an annotated paraphrase (or rather a revision of earlier translations) of the ninth book, a popular treatise on pathology and therapeutics that was often printed on its own. This was Vesalius’ first publication, printed at Louvain in February . He corrected and amplified his notes and more than doubled their number for the second edition, printed at Basle only a month later. In this edition Vesalius’ annotations are printed as marginal notes. As well as the Liber ad Almansorem this edition includes a number of shorter works by al-Ra¯zı¯: Liber de pestilentia; liber divisionum; De antidotis; De affectibus juncturarum; De morbis infantium; Aphorismorum, sive secretorum medicinalium; Antidotarius; De praeservatione ab aegritudine lapidis; De sectionibus, caueriis, & ventosis; and De facultatibus partium animalium. The texts were edited by Alban Thorer, all the translations being by Gerard of Cremona, except for the Vesalius translation of Liber ad Almansorem Book and Thorer’s own translation of Book , and the Liber de pestilentia translated by Giorgio Valla (Durling). The greatest of all the Arab physicians, al-Ra¯zı¯ (Latinised Rhazes or Rhases, –), was chief physician at the hospital in Baghdad and ranks with Hippocrates and Galen as one of the founders of clinical medicine. Grolier, Medicine, cites the edition of the Liber ad Almansorem; Garrison– Morton . the edition.
RICHARD OF WENDOVER? also known as Richardus Anglicus (d. ) I. Correctorium alchymiae Richardi Anglici. Das ist. Reformierte Alchimy, oder Alchimeibesserung, und Straffung der Alchimitischen Mißpräuch... II. Rainmundi Lulli Apertoroium, & Accuratio Vegetabilium... Des Königs Gebers auß Hispanien... Zu Straßburg, bey B. Jobins seligen Erben. Anno M. D. XCVI. Strasbourg: heirs of Bernhard Jobin, .
vo: )( A–T (blank T), leaves, ff. [] []. Gothic letter. Title printed in red and black. Decorative initials. x mm. Titlepage soiled; moderate browning, heavier in a few gatherings. Binding: Nineteenth-century quarter roan, gilt bands on spine, red painted and gauffered edges from a former binding. Small chip to head of spine, worn. Provenance: From the gauffering it appears that this work was formerly bound with, or formed a companion to, nos , and . Early underlining, NBs and pointing fists; a short note in a later hand on final blank; on the title ‘M’ stamped in red; stamp ‘Fischer Fondeur en caracteres à Genève’ (repeated on pastedown) and initials and date . Walter Pagel’s signature dated . Second edition. Probably an exact reprint or a re-issue of the same publisher’s edition (Rogent and Duràn, give the date as ) which has the same collation. R ; Muller p. , Jobin (héritiers) ; Ferguson II, p. . This edition not in Ritter or Banzig, cf. Ritter for the edition; not in Rogent and Duràn (cf. ). A collection of five alchemical texts in German translation, the first two here attributed to ‘Ricardi Anglici’. These are the ‘Correction’ and ‘Reform’ of Alchemy. The ‘Correction’ was printed in earlier collections, perhaps first in Alchimia (Nuremberg , see Ferguson I, p. ) but the ‘Reform’ may make its first appearance in this collection. The other texts are from the pseudoLullian alchemical corpus, the treatise on the philosopher’s stone apparently printed here for the first time. This Richard has generally been identified with the physician, Richard of Wendover (d. ), canon of St Paul’s and possibly for a time physician to Pope Gregory IX. Faye Getz in ODNB distinguishes him from Richardus Anglicus (fl. c. ), also a physician and author of the medical treatise Micrologus. Sarton believed that Richard of Wendover was the author of Micrologus, but was unsure of the authorship of the alchemical works. Getz’s article on both men makes no mention of the Correctorium alchymiae – nor any other alchemical writings by Richard of Wendover. To add further confusion, in another ODNB article, J. D. North ascribes a work with the same title, Correctorium alchymiae, to Robert York, called Perscrutator (fl. –), but apparently it is a different text since he gives a different publication history for it. In addition to the two attributed to ‘Ricardi Anglici’, the other works in the volume are two pseudo-Lullian texts, the Apertorium (first prined in , Peirera I.) and Tractatus de lapide philosophico (Peirera II. , not citing any printed editions so this is presumably the first edition of this text); and Geber’s Secretum. I have not identified the Geneva typefounder, Fischer, who owned this copy in the nineteenth-century. Sarton II, p. ; Michela Pereira, The alchemical corpus attributed to Raymond Lull ().
ROESSLIN, Eucharius, the younger (d.) Kreuterbüch, vonn aller Kreuter, Gethier, Gesteine unnd Metal, Natur, nutz unnd gebrauch. Mit aller deren leblicher Abconterfeytungen. Distillier zeug und Bericht, Aller handt kostbarlich Wasser zubrennen, halten und gebrauchen. Alles über vorige Edition, Gebessert und gemehrt... Getruckt zu Franckfurt am Meyn, Bei Christian Egenolph. Frankfurt: Christian Egenolff the elder, . Folio: *–* A–L, leaves, ff. [] pp. – []; ff. –. Gothic letter with Roman index and Latin names. woodcuts on titlepage, numerous woodcuts in the text. x mm. Corner of title torn away with loss of part of woodcut and text on verso, corners of other leaves, *, *, *, *, B and N also torn away with loss of text, and part of a woodcut in the last case; light marginal waterstains; soiled throughout from heavy use. Binding: Recent quarter calf, gauffered edges from a former binding. Provenance: From the gauffering it appears that this work was formerly bound with, or formed a companion to, nos , and . A few woodcuts partially coloured with red crayon; alternative animal and plant names entered next to illustrations in an early hand and a few marginal annotations. Sixth extant edition. Egenolff published editions in , , , , , , and (). R; Nissen . A profusely illustrated herbal with woodcuts of distillation apparatus, animals and a large number of plants. In addition there are the two scenes on the titlepage and the lovely woodcut of a gardener tending his raised beds on p. lxxxii which Egenolff used again in Dryander, Artzenei Speigel (no. above). This herbal was enormously popular with at least editions published in Rösslin’s lifetime. The second edition was considerably enlarged from the first and has different botanical woodcuts. For the first edition Egenolff had had his block-cutter copy the illustrations in Brunfels, Herbarium vivae icones, the first volume of which was published by the Strasbourg publisher, Johannes Schott in . Schott took Egenolff to court for this piracy and he was forced to hand over his blocks to Schott, who then used them for his own publication of the German edition of Brunfels in . Egenolff was now faced with having to replace the blocks for his later editions of Rösslin. Some at least are still based, though not very closely, on Brunfels, others are from different drawings (Arber, pp. –). Eucharius Rösslin the younger succeeded his father as city physician at Frankfurt in . The father is famous as the author of Der Swangern Frauwen und Hebammen Rosegarten (Haguenau, ), the first printed textbook of midwifery. Agnes Arber, Herbals: their origin and evolution (third edition, ).
ROUSSET, François (fl. –) Hysterotomotokias [Greek] (Id est) Caesarei partus assertio historiologica. Pars medicae artis interdum naturae extrema patienti, perquam necessaria. In qua agitur de opificio chirurgico humani ortus, aliter fauste succedere nequeuntis, quam per ventris materni solertem incisionem, sospite cum suo foetus matre ipsa. Item Foetus lapidei vige-octennalis causae... Parisiis, excudebat Dionysius Duvallius, sub Pegaso, in vico Bellovaco. M. D. XC. Paris: Denys du Val, . vo, a˜ A–O P Q, leaves, pp. [] []. Roman and Italic letter. Woodcut headpieces and initial borders. Full page woodcut illustrations on p. , , , and . [bound with:]
Dialogus apologeticus pro caesareo partu, in malevoli cuiusdam pseudoprotei dicteria [imprint as above]. Paris: Denys du Val, vo: A–C D, leaves, pp. . Roman letter, in verse. Woodcut headpiece and initial border. Manchester . x . Waterstains in corners extending into the text in about half of the book but only obtrusive in a few gatherings. A fresh copy. Binding: Contemporary vellum boards. Provenance: Nineteenth century armorial bookplate of ‘Corn. Henr. à Roy’ and an undeciphered signature on pastedown. Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. The first work is the author’s enlarged Latin edition of Traitté nouveau de l’hysterotomotokie (Paris, ). Caspar Bauhin had issued his own Latin translation with additions at Basle in (with later editions in and ). A German translation was published in . Durling ; Manchester . A much enlarged edition of the first monograph on the Caesarian section, bound with Rousset’s reply to objections to the first edition. It was Rousset who gave the operation its name after the supposed birth of Caesar. The first edition was in French and recorded fifteen successful operations carried out by various operators in the preceding years (Garrison–Morton ). It was translated into Latin by Caspar Bauhin and published without Rousset’s consent at Basle in . This edition is Rousset’s own Latin version, issued by the original publisher, to which Rousset added much new material. ‘The book was a masterpiece, and he appears to be the first writer who had the courage to advise the performance of the operation upon a living woman. In the first part of his book, he pointed out the usefulness and necessity of the operation where there was imminent danger to both mother and child in cases where delivery by the natural passage is impossible. Next he established the possibility of the success of the operation by instances of various kinds which proved that wounds of the part to be divided during the operation are not
necessarily fatal. Lastly, he entered into a detailed account of several obstetrical complications which were incomparably more terrible than the operation he proposed and which, for the most part, may be avoided by its performance... ‘In , Rousset, after further researches in reference to the [Caesarean] operation, published a larger edition of his book... He extended his arguments in favour of the operation and gave an account of five further successful cases. Two of these patients afterwards had normal deliveries. In the fifth case, which occurred in , it appears that the operator, one John Lucas, was anything but sober at the time of the operation. Rousset, in this connection remarked, “And if the operation succeed with him when drunk, what may not he expect who perform it when sober, according to the justest rules of his art?” ‘In Rousset published an apologetic dialogue on the Caesarean operation... In this work he considered all the objections which had been made by his adversaries and even took it upon himself to expose them in their proper light which gave him occasion to enlighten and fortify his own way of thinking” (Young, pp. , –). John Harley Young, Caesarean Section. The History and Development of the Operation from Earliest Times ().
RUPESCISSA, Johannes de (c. –c. ) De consideratione quintae essenti[a]e rerum omnium, opus sanè egregium. Arnaldi de Villanova Epistola de sanguine humano distillato. Raymundi Lullii Ars operativa: & alia quaedam... Nunc primum in lucem data. Accessit michaelis Savonarolae Libellus optimus de aqua Vitae, nunc valde correctior quam ante annos . editus. Item Hieronymi Cardani Libellus de Aethere, seu Qunta essentia Vini. Basle: no publisher’s name or date, ascribed to Heinrich Petri and Peter Perna by VD, [?]. vo: a–y (blank y present, blank y lacking), of leaves, pp. [], (errata on yr, yv–yv blank). Roman letter with Italic headings and errata. Woodcut initials. x mm. Hole in b repaired with loss of several letters and the leaf remargined; washed and pressed, paper slightly discoloured. Binding: Nineteenth-century polished calf, gilt spine, top edge gilt. Upper joint cracked but sound. Provenance: Traces of early annotation on a few leaves and final blank, largely washed out and illegible; nineteenth-century engraved armorial bookplate with initials A. L. S. and quotation ‘Beatus homo quem tu erudieris domini’. First edition of the original text, edited by Gugliolmo Grataroli whose dedication to the emperor Ferdinand is dated : a much altered version had been printed in and (see Lull, De secretis naturae, no. above). J; Adams R; Wellcome ; Rogent and Duràn .
The first systematic application of chemistry to medicine. Rupescissa’s ‘fifth essence’ is spirit of wine. He describes several processes for distilling wine and gives descriptions of its therapeutic powers. Rupescissa declared ‘that a fifth essence is not only obtainable from wine, but from all other things as well, and thus generalizing the fifth essence as a chemical species, he was propounding a doctrine which was to assume the first rank in the chemistry of the sixteenth century’ (Multhauf pp. –). It was Rupescissa, both physician and alchemist, who seems to have been the first to take the major step of ‘the wholesale transfer of the paraphernalia of alchemy into medicine’ (Multhauf, p. ). In the field of alchemy ‘This work possessed a marked individuality both in expression and arrangement, distinguishing it from other medieval alchemical treatises, and it created a correspondingly profound and wide impression.’ (Thorndike pp. –). In his DSB article on Paracelsus, Pagel notes that it is not easy to decide to what extent Paracelsus had been anticipated by the Lullists, and by Rupescissa, especially in regard to the preparation of potable metals and quinta essentia (DSB :a). Apparently born in Catalonia, Rupescissa studied philosophy at Toulouse before entering the Fransiscan order at Auriac in Aquitaine. He was imprisoned several times for his prophecies of the coming of the antichrist and the future of church and state. Rupescissa’s text is followed by works attributed to Arnaldus de Villanova and Raymond Lull, but not the tract by Cardanus erroneously advertised on the titlepage. The Lullian works include Ars operativa medica (Peirera I., first printed in ). Thorndike gives a long account of Rupescissa and his works and the surviving MSS (III, pp. –, –, see especially pp. – for an analysis of the content of De consideratione quintae essentiae); Robert P. Multhauf, ‘John of Rupescissa and the Origin of Medical Chemisty’, Isis () –.
RUPESCISSA, Johannes de (c. –c. ) De consideratione quintae essentiae rerum omnium, opus sanè egregium. Accessere Arnaldi de Villanova Epistola de sangine humano distillato; Raymundi Lullii Ars operativa, & alia quaedam. Michaelis Savanarolae Libellus optimus de aqua vita, nunc valde correctior quam ante annos LXX editus... Basileae, per Conradum Waldkirch. M D XCVII. Basle: Konrad von Waldkirch, . vo: A–S T, leaves, pp. [], Roman letter with Italic headings and index. Woodcut initials, fleuron and typemetal initials and head and tailpieces. x mm. Severely browned throughout. Binding: Seventeenth-century mottled calf, red sprinkled edges. Spine restored. Provenance: Initials ‘R. N.’, perforated stamp in the margin of B.
Second edition, a reprint of the 1561 edition with the errata corrected. The first initial in the dedication is the same block used in the earlier edition. ZV; Adams R; Durling ; Wellcome ; Neville II, p. ; Rogen and Duràn .
SCHÖNER, Johann (–) Algorithmus demonstratus Habes in hoc libello, studiose lector, Mathematica demonstrationes, in eam calculandi artem, quam vulgus Algorithmum vocat, quibus fons et origo... M. D. XXXIIII. [Colophon: Norimbergae apud Jo. Petreium, Anno M. D. XXXIIII. Nuremberg: Johann Petreius, . to: A–H, unnumbered leaves. Roman letter with mathematical notation in the margins. Title within a woodcut border. Woodcut initials. x mm. A little soiled, light marginal waterstains. Binding: Nineteenth-century boards using a printed antiphonal leaf. Pages numbered in an early hand. Provenance: Royal Library, Munich, release stamp on verso of title. First edition of Schöner’s commentary. A; Smith, Rara Arithmetica p. . An annotated edition of the medieval ‘Algorithmus demonstratus’ by a certain magister Gernadus. ‘As might be expected, therefore, it is purely theoretical, being a late variation of the Boethian works’ (Smith). The commentary by Johannes Schöner is longer than the original text and is supplemented by algebraic notation printed in the margins. Schöner’s source for the text was a copy made by Regiomontanus from a manuscript in Vienna (leading to the work being once ascribed to Regiomontanus himself). In the same year Schöner, a teacher of mathematics in the Aegidiengymnasium at Nuremberg, had edited Regiomontanus, Problemata xxix saphaeae nobilis instrumenti astronomici. Thorndike, V, p. ; for the attribution of the original MS copied by Regiomontanus to Gernadus, the Catholic Encyclopedia on-line cites Duhem in Bibliotheca mathematica, rd series, VI, , p. .
SENECA, Lucius Annaeus (c. – ) Opera philosophica, including Epistolae and Questiones naturales [†a:] Seneca moralis. [Colophon, Hv:] Impressum Venetiis per Bernadinum de Cremona & Simonem de Luero. Die. v. octobris. MCCCCXC. Venice: Bernardinus de Choris, de Cremona and Simon de Luere, October, .
Folio: † a–r s–t A–G H (–H, blank) of leaves, ff. [] cxlvii LXV. Roman letter, lines and headline per page, initial spaces with guide letters, spaces for Greek words. Initials and rubrication: red and blue decorated initials on a and m; other initials alternating in red and blue, paragraph marks in red or blue. Greek words not supplied. x x mm. †r dustsoiled; light stains in the text on C and E and light marginal waterstains on a few other leaves, small hole in last leaves (contents) affecting one or two letters. A fine fresh copy. Binding: Eighteenth-century British panelled calf, red sprinkled edges. Joints cracked, one upper cord broken, other cords holding but weak, head and tail of spine chipped, corners worn. Provenance: The Benedictine monasterry of Santa Giustina in Padua with inscription on a, ‘Est monasterii sancte Iustine signatus numero ’, Three line verse in Italian on †r in a contemporary hand; words of contemporary annotation in the text and occasional underlining, pointing fists and grotesque faces in the margins. Engraved armorial bookplate of John Campbell of Shawfield, near Glasgow, probably the son of Daniel Campbell, –, the politician who provoked the ‘Shawfield riots’; Signet Library, Edinburgh with gilt stamp on boards and shelf-label on pastedown (Sotheby’s th-th April , lot , £38, Francis Edwards). Third edition of the Opera containing the editio princeps of Questiones naturales. (First ; there were other fifteenth-century editions, including one in French and one in Spanish). ISTC: is; Goff S-; BMC V ; Walsh ; BSB-Ink S-; Bod-inc S-. The first edition of Seneca’s works to contain his ‘Natural questions’ his only extant scientific work. These deal with meteorology in the modern sense, rivers, earthaquakes, meteors and comets, all topics that belonged to meteorology in its ancient sense. According to Sarton, ‘Seneca was the first to express a belief in the progress of knowledge (not the progress of humanity); this idea of progress is unique in ancient literature’. The Questiones naturales is the most substantial extant ancient work after Aristotle and so the main source for the history of Greek meteorolgy after Aristotle since it relies heavily on Greek sources. Sarton draws particulary attention to Seneca’s account of the earthquake in Campania on February which led him to discuss earthquates and volcanic phenomena. For details of Ficino’s contributions and references, see Alan Coates and others, A catalogue of books printed in the fifteenth century now in the Bodleian Library (), S-. A very good and attractive copy from the famous library of Santa Giustina in Padua, one of the most important libraries in Italy in the middle ages. Sarton I, pp. –; L.D. Reynolds, ed. Texts and Transmission (), pp. –.
SEUSE, Heinrich, latinised SUSO (–) Horologiu[m] eterne sapientie... [Colophon:] Colonie apud predicatores impressum... Anno domini. M.ccccc.iij. Mensis Septembris ipso die Marcelli. Cologne: Cornelius von Zierickzee, . vo: A–Q ($ and signed except sig. A), unnumbered leaves. Gothic letter, initial spaces with guide letters. Title printed in red (type) and black (woodcuts). Small woodcut on title ( x mm) surrounded by decorative blocks and a large woodcut on verso ( x mm). x mm. Initials and initial strokes supplied in red; signatures on leaves – of each gathering supplied in a contemporary hand. A few wormholes in the first four gatherings affecting the text and title woodcuts; wormtracks and tears in blank margins of the titlepage repaired; clean tear through text in A repaired; a good fresh copy with good margins. Binding: Nineteenth-century marbled boards, worn. Provenance: From to words of contemporary annotation on almost every page, with initial strokes, underlining and other decoration of the annotations in red ink. Walter Pagel’s signature, undated. Later edition (first Cologne, about ; ISTC lists another incunable editions, including in French and in Dutch). S. ‘The clock of wisdom’ has been called the finest fruit of German mysticism. ‘Seuse’s Horologium sapientiae contains his most developed statement on the nature of friendship, as well as a complex definition of signs as markers that mediate between inner and outer, the secret and the manifest. The materiality of gifts and other tokens parallels an awareness of the legibility of the body itself: the notion of “the body as an image” serving as the corollary of “the image as a body”. To that extent, all gifted images represent an incarnation of sorts, reflecting not only the fact that for Seuse, friendship itself constitutes a gift, but also that friendship is made manifest on the model of the Incarnation.’ (Hamburger, abstract of the article cited below.) Pagel believed that the images on the titlepage and the large woodcut on the verso were precursors of Rosicrucian symbolism. The left-hand angel on the title, apparently with one eye closed, he says ‘shows mystic monocularity’ while the large woodcut shows Christ as ‘ “Cosmos-Man” spanning the whole width of the mantle of God the Father’ (he reproduces these images from the present copy in his Paracelsus () figs. , and and note on pp. –). A native of Swabia, Seuse ‘continued the mystical tendencies of Eckhart and Tauler, being perhaps more practical than either of them, and more poetical’ (Sarton). His works were inflential in the fourteenth century and frequently printed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and despite a Jesuit prohibition of his works in the late sixteenth-century, ‘the pietistic tendencies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries brought Suso back to the surface’ (Sarton).
A very good fresh copy with fairly extensive annotations. It is interesting to note that the rubrication, which is undoubtedly early, is applied both to the printed text and the annotation. Sarton III, –; Jeffrey F. Hamburger, ‘Visible, Yet Secret: Images as Signs of Friendship in Seuse’, Oxford German Studies, (), pp. –.
SEVERINUS, Petrus (–) Idea medicina philosophicae, fundamenta continens totius doctrinae Paracelsicae, Hippocraticae, & Galenicae... Basileae, ex officina sixti Henricpetri. Anno M.D. LXXI. [Same text in colophon.] Basle: Sixtus Henricpetri, . to: α–β A–Z Aa–Zz AA–HH (blank β), leaves, pp. [] []. Roman letter. Woodcut initials, printer’s device on colophon leaf HH. x mm. Some light soiling and discolouration; light waterstains in the margins of a few leaves. Binding: Early seventeenth-century English sprinkled calf, sometime rebacked; new endleaves. Spine and corners rubbed. Provenance: Signature (twice) on title of Joshua Smarfett, physician of Tenterden, Diocesan Licentiate (Mortimer p. ); early underlining on one page; Sion College Library stamp and withdrawn stamp dated . Walter Pagel’s signature dated . First edition. Second edition, Erfurt, , third, with commentary by William Davison, The Hague, . S ; Adams ; Bird ; Durling ; Manchester ; Wellcome . Nielsen ; Bruni Celli . The ‘first major synthesis of the Paracelsian corpus, the Idea medicinae philosophicae was highly influential’. It was ‘immediately accepted as one of the most authoritative documents of the Paracelsian school’ (Debus, DSB, p. ). ‘... the best of Paracelsian commentators’ (Pagel, Religion, VI, p. ). ‘The Idea opens by complaining that Galenic medicine had failed to suppress the new diseases that were ravaging Europe. If physicians would discard the works of the ancients and turn to their own observations of nature, they would find that a proper understanding of the relation of man and nature is expressed clearly in the analogy of the macrocosm and the microcosm. Severinus accepted the doctrine of signatures and, as a follower of Paracelsus, rejected the traditional doctrine of the humors and the belief that contraries cure.’ (Debus, French Paracelsians, p. ). This book also contains Severinus’ views on epigenisis, the development of the organism from germ material (as opposed to preformation). ‘As Pagel has shown, Severinus was the most eloquent exponent of epigenesis in the period between Aristotle and Harvey’ (Debus, DSB, p. b). Walter Pagel made this book very much his own, writing about the relationship of Severinus’ work to the Paracelsian corpus and as a precursor of Harvey (see references below). In his work on Harvey, Pagel wrote: ‘Severinus’ Idea was praised by Sir Francis Bacon as the eloquent presentation
and philosophically harmonious system of Paracelsus of whom he thought little otherwise’ (p. ) and concludes ‘His book was well known at Harvey’s time, when it went through three editions. Bacon should have been well acquainted with it, as he had accorded to it words of praise. It is reasonable to assume that it was not unknown to Harvey, however little its affiliation to Paracelsian ideas and Lord Bacon’s praise may have impressed him as commendable features’ (p. ). What Pagel may not have known is that there was a copy in the library of the London College of Physicians, on a shelf D containing mostly alchemical books. Harvey funded a new building for the library and donated his own books – but perhaps not the Severinus (Christopher Merrett, Catalogus librorum, , p. ). Severinus, or Peder Sørensen to give him his Danish name, attended the University of Copenhagen. He studied medicine briefly in France and then returned to Copenhagen. Then in he set out with another noted Paracelsian, Johannes Pratensis, to study abroad – in Germany, France and Italy. He completed the Idea medicina in France. ‘Severinus was widely known in the iatrochemical circles of his time. In Denmark he was closely associated at court with Tycho Brahe, who was claimed by sixteenth and seventeenthcentury chemists as a leading authority in this field.’ (Debus, DSB, p. a). This copy belonged to an early seventeenth-century English provincial physician, Joshua Smarfett of Tenterden, Kent. Walter Pagel, Paracelsus. An Introduction to Philosophical Medicine in the Era of the Renaissance (nd edition, ); Ibid, William Harvey’s Biological Ideas (, pp. –); Ibid, Religion and Neoplatonism in Renaissance medicine (); Allen G. Debus, DSB :–; Ibid, The French Paracelsians (); Lauritz Martin Neilsen, Dansk bibliografi, –[] (–); Ian Mortimer, A Directory of Medical Personnel Qualified and Practising in the Diocese of Canterbury, circa – (no date, www.kentarchaeology.ac/authors/.pdf).
TAGLIACOZZI, Gaspare (–) Cheirurgia nova... de narium, aurium, labiorumque defectu, per insitionem cutis ex humero, arte, hactenus omnibus ignota, sarciendo... Additis cutis traducis instrumentorum omnium, atque deligationum iconibus & Tabulis... Francofurti. Excudebat Johannes Sauris, impensis Petri Kopffii. Frankfurt: Johannes Sauer for Peter Kopf, . vo: A–P Q, leaves, pp. [] (last page blank). Roman and Italic letter. Titlepage in red and black with woodcut printer’s device; woodcut initials. Three quarter page woodcut on p. and full page woodcuts on pp. –. xmm. Light or moderate browning throughout; wormholes in inner margins at the end. Binding: Contemporary vellum boards, traces of ties. Soiled. Provenance: Circular library stamp on endleaf and title, both inked out; nineteenth-century bookplate of A. Braune pasted over an earlier bookplate.
Third edition (first as De curatorum chirurgia per insitionem, folio, Venice, Bindoni, ; second, a piracy, folio, Venice, Meietti, ); the fourth edition was printed at Berlin in . T; Adams T ; Bird ; Durling ; Manchester ; Wellcome . The first monograph on plastic surgery. It was first published as an imposing folio at Venice in . A piracy was printed at Venice in the same year, in full size, and the next year it was reprinted at Frankfurt in this cheap octavo edition with much reduced, but accurate, copies of all the woodcut illustrations. This publication history suggests that the book created quite a stir. LeFanu points out that ‘The author’s method of transplanting the patient’s own tissue met a very real need, because the dueling and violence that were widespread in Italy at that time frequently resulted in mutilation of the face’. On the other hand, commentators all repeat the statement that Tagliacozzi’s methods were not adopted by his contemporaries and condemned by the Church as meddling with God’s creation. Such statements need to be considererd against the evidence of the publication of three editions within two years. Though of course it is also true that plastic surgery did not come into its own until the nineteenth century when Taglicozzi’s book was ‘rediscovered’ and reprinted at Berlin in . ‘The twenty-two illustrated plates contained at the end of the book are woodcuts of mediocre technical quality, but they reveal considerable artistic skill. The arrangement is well thought out: the most important instruments, the first three stages of the operation for restoring the nose, two separate plates showing the two most important bandages, two further plates demonstrating their use in a decisive phase of the operation, and finally the removal of the bandage and flap of skin... Other plates illustrate the third part of the operation for shaping the nostrils. At the very end, plastic surgery of the lips and ears is explained by means of simple line-drawings.’ (Herlinger.) The illustrations are of considerable importance because they mark a turning point in surgical illustration. In Herlinger’s analysis Tagliacozzi’s work ‘was simultaneously the conclusion of the early period of surgical illustration and the prelude to the developments that were to take place in the th century... The scenes are oriented toward didactic representatation – they are not drawn from life, and they are not crowded with irrelevant detail. They represent ... the general case as oppposed to the individual case.’ Garrison–Morton ; Grolier, Medicine ; LeFanu, Notable Books in the Lilly Library, p. ; Robert Herlinger, History of Medical Illustration (), pp. – and figs –; Martha Teach Gnudi and Jerome Pierce Webster, The Life and Times of Gaspare Tagliacozzi (), pp. – and fig. .
TAURELLUS, Nicolaus (–) Alpes caesae, hoc est, Andr. Caesalpini Itali, monstrosa & superba dogmata, discussa & excussa... Apud M. Zachariam Palthenium Typographum. Anno M. D. XCVII. [Frankfurt]: Zacharias Palthenius, .
to: * (:) (::) (:::) A–X (–X, blank), of leaves, pp. [] [] (last page blank). Roman and Italic letter. Printer’s device on title, small woodcut initials and headpieces. x mm. Rectangle cut from foot of title and repaired; a few wormholes in the title, affecting a few letters, and first few leaves; lightly browned throughout but clean. Binding: Eighteenth-century half calf, gilt floral tools in spine compartments, red edges, marbled paper pastedowns. Head of spine slightly frayed, edges rubbed and corners worn. Provenance: No early marks of ownership or use. First edition. Another state of the titlepage has the place of publication in the imprint ( T). T; Adams T. A critical commentary on Cesalpino’s Quaestionum peripeteticarum (, see no. above) in which Cesalpino had set out his philosophical and scientific views. Cesalpino was an Aristotelian, and so a target for Taurellus who ‘attacked the dominant Aristotelianism of the time, and endeavoured to construct a philosophy which should harmonize faith and knowledge, and bridge over the chasm made by the first Renaissance writers who followed Pomponazzi.’ (Encyclopedia Britannica). Taurellus was born in the County of Mömpelgard, read theology at the University of Tübingen and medicine at the University of Basel. He was later professor of medicine at the University of Altdorf. The Encyclopedia Britannica accounts this one of his chief works. Pagel was interested in the book because of the section addressing Cesalpinus’ views on the cardiovascular system (‘ De corde’, pp. -). Cesalpinus thought that both arterial and venous blood was carried from the heart to the organs, and made the seemingly contradictory statement that although venous blood also carried nutrients to the heart, there was only one kind of venous blood. ‘Cesalpinus was criticised by his main adversary, Nicolaus Taurellus for having emphasised the oneness of blood – like his master Aristotle’ (Pagel p. ). Pagel, William Harvey’s Biological Ideas, ; Encyclopedia Britannica, th edition, , , p. .
TELESIO, Bernadino (–) De rerum natura iuxta propria principia Libri IX... Neapoli apud Horatium Salvianum. M.D. LXXXVII. Naples: Orazio Salviani, . Folio: † A–I K–L †, leaves, [] [] (last page blank) but mis-bound with † after A. Roman letter. Woodcut printer’s device on title, and -line initials. Woodcut diagram on p. . x mm. Titlepage dustsoiled and frayed in the outer margin and strengthened with tissue. wormholes through the text at the beginning, dissappearing after sig. E. A good clean copy.
Binding: Eighteenth-century English calf, red edges, recently rebacked. Corners worn. Provenance: No contemporary marks of ownership or annotations. An unidentified eighteenth-century owner, ‘E. C.’ has noted Bacon’s references to Telesio on the front free endleaf, annotated the last leaf ‘Collated Perfect E:C:’ and repeated his initials on the rear endleaf. The first complete edition with books – printed for the first time, second issue with reset prelims and final gathering. This edition was first issued in and some copies of that issue have the same final gathering as here. First published as De natura iuxta propria principia liber primus et secundus (Rome, Antonio Blado, ); second edition, De rerum natura iuxta propria principia, liber primus, et secundus, denuò editi, (Naples, Giuseppe Cacchi, ). also notes an edition of all nine books published by Salviani in with an unconfirmed location at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Rome, but I can find no other copies of such an issue or edition. ; Adams T ( issue); Riccardi, I, pt. , col no.. Telesio is celebrated for being wrong for the right reasons. His system is based on the opposing factors of heat and cold which take the place of Aristotelian forms. This system is not, he insists, to be based on reason but on an examination of the data presented by the senses. He thus ‘sowed the seeds from which sprang the scientific methods of Campanella and Bruno, of Bacon and Descartes, with their widely divergent results... The whole system of Telesio shows lacunae in argument, and ignorance of essential facts, but at the same time it is a forerunner of all subsequent empiricism, scientific and philosophical, and marks clearly the period of transition from authority and reason to experiment and individual responsibility.’ (Encyclopaedia Britannica.) Neal W. Gilbert in DSB is at pains to point out that earlier commentators’ view of Telesio’s book as an empiricist manifesto is misleading and that Telesio is no more, nor less, an empiricist than Aristotle himself, but still he reaches much the same conclusion, that Telesio showed the way forward. He also notes that in making the sun fiery, Telesio ‘unwittingly’ contributed to the breakdown of the Aristotelian barrier between celestial and sublunary physics; and in his concepts of space and time he anticipated Newton and allowed for the possibility of a vacuum. Telesio was educated at Milan by his uncle, Antonio, then at Rome and Padua. He lectured at Naples and founded the academy of Cosenza. Telesio’s anti-Aristotelian views were problematic for the Catholic Church but surprisingly his books were not put on the index until shortly after his death. Encyclopaedia Britannica (th edition, ), , p. ; Neal W. Gilbert, DSB, , pp. –.
THOMAS AQUINAS, saint (?–) Opuscula (). Ed: Antonius Pizamanus, with a life of St. Thomas. [aar blank; aav:] Tabula omnium opusculoru[m]... [Colophon, GGr:] impressa Venetiis ingenio ac impe[n]sa Hermanni lichtenstein Coloniensis. Anno salut[is] Mcccc.xc. vii. Idus septembris. Venice: Hermannus Liechtenstein, September, . to: aa a–v x A–Z AA–GG HH, unnumbered leaves. Gothic letter in double columns of lines. Initial spaces with guide letters. Illumination and rubrication: Illuminated letter L on ar and a stylised leaf and fruit decoration at the foot of the same page. Capitals supplied in red throughout with flourishes extending into the lower margins. x mm. A superb large, fresh and clean copy. Binding: Contemporary blind stamped calf over oak boards, remains of clasps, holes where there were once bosses. Leather cracked and defective over cords and at head and foot; old repairs to head of spine and corners. Provenance: About words of contemporary annotation and occasional underlining and marginal marks and numbers. Inscription on ar ‘Ad cenobium sancte elisabeth in suburbio brixine spectat presens liber.’ (To the monastery of St. Elizabeth in the vicinity of Brixen belongs the present book.). Later edition, but one of the most complete, containing treatises. ISTC lists incunable editions. The first edition of comprises treatieses. This recension, edited by Pizamanus, was reprinted at Venice by Bonetus Locatellus for Octavianus Scotus in with two treatises added. Goff T; Poynter ; Bod-inc T-; BMC V ; BSB-Ink T-. This is one of the most complete fifteenth century editions of Thomas Aquinas, the ‘Angelic doctor,’ and a superb copy from the library of a womens’ religious house. The dominant figure in medieval scolasticism, Aquinas’ writings on the Aristotelian corpus defined the teaching of science up to the so called ‘scientific revolution’ of the seventeenth century. In theology, Aquinas taught that faith was not incompatible with reason. This collection begins with Pizamanus’ life of Aquinas followed by numbered ‘Opuscula’, including many scientific treatises, roughly grouped around Opuscula –. Although treatises are listed, the editor, Pizimanus, notes that one could not be found, no. on Aristotle’s logic, and so although numbered it is not printed. Opusculum ‘De motu cordis’ is discussed by Pagel for its bearing on Harvey’s ideas. Pagel notes that this treatise has sometimes been described as a work on the motion of the blood but that this is a misunderstanding and the title really implies the motion of the heart. Aquinas argues that although the motion of the heart is made up of two movements – pushing and pulling, systole and diastole – it always returns to the same point and so although not
truly a circular motion, it is like a circular motion, and comes close to a simple circular motion like that of the heavens. Pagel concludes that circular symbolism considered with relation to the motion of the heart can be traced back to this treatise of Aquinas; and circular symbolism considered with relation to the circular motion of the blood to Giodano Bruno’s De rerum principiis. Binding and provenance. The inscription is that of the Franciscan house of women at Bressanone, now part of Italy but formerly in Germany and called Brixen (John R. H. Moorman, Medieval Franciscan Houses () p. . The binding and the fine illuminated initial at the start of the text are consistent with a South German provenance. Pagel, William Harvey’s Biological Ideas () pp. – and ; Vincent R. Larkin, ‘St Thomas Aquinas on the movement of the heart’, Journal of the History of Medicine () –.
THURNEISSER ZUM THURN, Leonhard (?–) Prokatalepsis [Greek] oder Praeoccupatio, durch zwölff verscheidenlicher Tractaten... Anno M. D. LXXI. [Colophon:] Gedruckt zu Franckfurt an der Oder durch Johan. Eichorn, anno . Frankfurt (Oder): Johann Eichorn, . Folio: A–G H, A, of leaves, pp. [] I–[LXXXVII] [] (last page blank). Gothic letter with Roman and Italic on A, title [in facsimile] within a woodcut border, portrait of Thurneiser within a woodcut border on A, ornamental initials. x mm. (xerox bound in), several margins and corners defective and restored with loss of several letters of shoulder notes. Uniform browning. Binding: Recent quarter calf. First edition. T; Durling . In this work Thurneisser describes a method of diagnosis by weighing and distilling urine. He was the first to publish the method and although Gerhard Dorn later claimed priority, ‘chemical uroscopy’ was attributed to Thurneisser by such writers as Reusner, James Hart and Van Helmont. According to Pagel ‘Weighing of the urine, as inculcated by Thurneisser, remained a sound method of urine examination and was established as such by Van Helmont. Seen in this light Thurneisser was productive of some progressive ideas and results, however much overgrown by the fruits of wild imagination and deliberate trickery... In this field Thurneisser’s position appears to be equalled by his merits in the chemical examination of mineral waters. Though not the first in the field, it was Thurneisser and not Paracelsus who carried out such investigations, and he did so on a systematic scale’ (Pagel p. ). Partington was dismissive: ‘Thurneisser seems to have been the first to use the perfectly useless process of distillation’ (II, p. ). Like Partington, Garrison could find little of value in Thurneisser’s works, but his description of Thurneisser’s wild career is probably not unfair: ‘A typical follower of Paracelsus was the adventurous alchemist and swindler, Leonhard Thurn-
heysser zum Thurn (–), of Basle, who started out as a goldsmith’s apprentice, married at sixteen, and was soon embarked in a “gold-brick” imposture (selling tin coated with gold), for which he had to flee the city and take up a roving life. He traveled far and wide, became inspector of mines in Tyrol in and, after healing the wife of the Elector of Brandenburg of a desperate illness, became his body physician in . In Berlin, he made so much money by pawn-broking, usury, and the sale of calendars, horoscopes, and secret remedies, that he was able to set up a private laboratory and printing office, with type-foundry attached. A scandalous law-suit with his third wife reduced him to beggary, and he died obscurely in a cloister at Cologne. His writings, full of mystical humbuggery, are without value, although much has been made of his discovery that mineral waters yield a certain residue upon evaporation.’ (Garrison p. .) Pagel, Paracelsus , pp. – and where he gives further references for Thurneisser’s chemical uroscopy and other aspects of his work; Fielding H. Garrison, Introduction to the History of Medicine, th ed., .
THURNEISSER ZUM THURN, Leonhard (?–) Quinta essentia das ist, die höchste Subtilitet, krafft und wirckung, beyder der fürtrefflichsten, und menschlichem geschlecht am nützlichsten Künsten, der Medicin und Alchemy... Leipzig... [Colophon:] Gedruckt zu Leipzig bey Hans Steinman, typis Voegelianis, M. D. Lxxiii. Leipzig: Ernst Vögelin for Hans Steinmann, . Folio, A–I, J, K–S (–S, presumably blank), leaves, pp. [] xxvi– ccxii []. Gothic letter with Roman and Italic prelims. Title and B printed in red and black, woodcut device on title, woodcut portrait on A within a full page woodcut border, and large woodcut illustrations. x mm, some light browning, title a little soiled, otherwise a clean copy. Binding: Nineteenth-century half vellum. Sides worn, corners bumped. Provenance: J. Campbell Brown, Abercormby Square, Liverpool, nineteenth-century bookplate; Walter Pagel’s signature dated . First folio edition (first edition, to, Münster, ). T; Durling . Thurneisser’s work on the fifth essence is one of the best-illustrated alchemical works of the sixteenth century; many of the illustrations show the author himself performing alchemical operations. The woodcuts are said to be by Jost Amman and replace engravings in the first edition. In addition there is a formal portrait of the author in a magnificent full-page woodcut border. ‘The Quinta Essentia contains some repulsive pictures of the ‘spirits’ of mercury, sulphur, salt, etc. and follows Paracelsus in the parallels salt=earth= body, sulphur=air=spirit, mercury=water=soul.’ (Partington II, p..)
THURNEISSER ZUM THURN, Leonhard (?–) Magna alchymia dass ist ein Lehr und Unterweisung von den offenbaren und verborgenlichen Naturen, Arten und Eigenschafften, allerhandt wunderlicher Erdtgewechssen, als Ertzen, Metallen, Mineren Erdsäfften Schwefeln, Mercurien, Saltzen und Gesteinen... Item Onomasticum und Interpretatio oder außführliche Erklerung Etliche frembde und... unbekante Nomina, Verba... Gedruckt zu Cölln, Durch Johannem Gymnicum, im Einhorn. M. D. LXXX.VII. [Part :]Melitsath [Hebrew] kai hermeneia [Greek] das ist ein Onomasticum und Interpretatio oder außführliche Erklerung... Gedruckt zu Berlin durch Nicolaum Voltzen. Anno M. D. LXXXIII. Cologne: Johann Gymnich and Berlin, Nikolaus Voltz, . Folio, parts: * )( () A–Q; leaves, pp. [] []; π )( * A– Z a, leaves, pp. [] . Plus long folding woodcut and letterpress plates (c. x mm), each made up of two leaves pasted together, and double page tables. Gothic letter with quotations in a variety of scripts, titles printed in red and black, woodcut printer’s device on first title, woodcut border to second title, woodcut decorations in the text and on the tables, woodcut illustrations, astrological charts and texts in large scripts. x mm. Second titlepage worn and with a marginal tear; single round wormhole at the foot of second part, mostly in the margins but straying into the text and affecting several letters. Some light foxing and a few minor stains but a good fresh copy. Binding: Eighteenth-century boards, red sprinkled edges. Worn, front free endleaf removed. Provenance: Bookplate of Philip Heinrich Boecler (–), professor of anatomy and surgery at Strasbourg (see Hirsch). Walter Pagel’s signature dated . First edition, second issue. Both parts were originally issued at Berlin by Nikolaus Voltz in ; here the first part has a cancelled titlepage with Gymnich’s Cologne imprint. T. Sudhoff, . For the first issue see Duveen p. ; Neu , ; Wellcome , . For the first issue of part I alone see Ferguson II, p. and Neville II, p. . ‘The Magna Alchymia is of a more practical character than the other works [of Thurneisser] and contains descriptions of preparations of sulphur, salts including sal urinae, mercury and its compounds, and metals, but includes a long section on astrology and horoscopes. In it there is mention of a ‘herrliche Salz’ from milk which may be milk sugar, but the text is so confused that nothing can be made of it... It has been said that milk sugar is first definitely mentioned by Fabritio Bartoletti in , but he then merely repeats what is said by Thurneisser.’ (Partington II, p. ). The Melitsath is a Paracelsian dictionary with ‘impressive examples of the printer’s art... incorporating Greek, Arabic, Syrian, Hebrew and Chaldean typefaces’ (DSB).
TREASURE OF POOR MEN [Three English medical works bound together]. London: . . Here begynnethe a newe book of medecines called the treasure of poore me[n] [Printer’s initials in woodcut border: N. H.] London: Nicholas Hill for Thomas Petyt, ? vo: πA A–K (–K), of leaves, ff. [] lxxix of lxxx, . Blackletter. Title within a woodcut border (McKerrow and Ferguson ), and -line woodcut initials. STC ., th of editions from to . ESTC S.
. [Here begynneth the seynge of urynes] London: Elizabeth, widow of Robert Redman, ? vo: A–F (–A and F–), of leaves, . Blackletter. Woodcut initials and large capitals, diagrams of urine flasks. Probably STC , th of editions from to ?; probably ESTC S.
. [A boke of the propertyes of herbes] [Colophon:] Imprynted at London in Paules church yearde at the sygne of the maydens head by Thomas petyt. M.D.XLi. London: Thomas Petyt, . vo: A–I K (–A, B–), of leaves, . Blackletter. Woodcut initial. STC ., th of editions printed from to ; ESTC S; No. , Henry . x mm. : headlines in prelims shaved; title heavily soiled; margins heavily browned; : clean tear in C, paper flaw in C affecting a few letters, a few headlines shaved; : Corners of first two extant leaves frayed with loss of text and heavily browned; a few corners rounded; light waterstains but fairly clean and fresh. Binding: Recent polished calf, tightly bound. Provenance: Contemporary attribution to Dr Moulton on title of first work; about words of annotation in another hand; names of birds in a later hand in margins of last work. A fascinating, if rather imperfect, medical compendium, made up of three works: a book of medicines; a book of uroscopy; and a herbal. Between them they form a vade mecum for home diagnosis and treatment. The three books were probably issued by the same bookseller, Thomas Petyt, and have perhaps been together from the start. They are linked by the fact that the first and third have Petyt’s imprint, and the second and third are printed in the same type. This and the annotation suggest that they have been together from an early date but have been re-arranged in rebinding so that the volume starts with a titlepage and ends with a colophon leaf, and the worst imperfections are internal. The Herbal is a version of the first book entirely devoted to herbs to be printed in England, first by Richard Banckes in . In the next years a large number of editions was issued by more than ten London printers, of
which editions survive with varying texts which have been analysed by F. R. Johnson. The origin of the text is not known, but it probably derives from a medieval manuscript. Popular English medical books of this period are almost always in very poor condition, where they survive at all: many editions of these texts have probably been lost altogether. Where they do survive they are almost always rebound, and if they are composite volumes, the components separated. What is so interesting about this volume is that three works which complement one another remain together. The combination gives us an insight into the use of this elusive genre of medical literature. And the herbal had another use: an early, but not contemporary, owner has noted the names of birds in the margins – ‘Goulden Bob’, ‘Red Linet’, ‘Gouldfinch’, ‘Redstart’, and ‘Bullfinch’ – perhaps birds seen while gathering simples. For the herbal see Blanche Henrey, British Botanical and Horticultural Literature before () I, pp. –; F. R. Johnson, ‘A newe herball of Macer and Banckes’s herball’, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, () –.
TYARD, Pontus de (–) Mantice, ou, discours de la verité de divination par astrologie. A lion, par Jan de Tournes et Guil. Gazeau. M. D. LVIII. Lyon: Jean de Tournes and Guillaume Gazeau, . to: A–B a–l m (blank m), leaves, pp. [] []. Italic letter with Roman headings and shoulder notes. Title within a woodcut border and with printer’s device and woodcut portrait of the author on verso; woodcut initials and headpieces. x mm. Lower margin of titlepage cut off and restored, slightly affecting the woodcut border; light soiling, browning and waterstaining and a few spots. Binding: Eighteenth-century vellum boards. Rodent damage to corners. Provenance: Inscription on endleaf ‘ Di Giaco: Franzo’. Walter Pagel’s signature, undated, annotated ‘to Bernard E. J Pagel ’. First edition. A revised and augmented edition was printed at Paris in , and this was augmented again for the version included in Les discours philosophiques (Paris, ); and finally the author’s corrections were incorporated in the posthumous edition of that collection (Paris ). Cartier . A formal dispute on the truth or falsity of astrology. It ends by denying man’s ability to read the stars and insists on his freedom from their influence. Pontus de Tyard, seigneur of Bissy in Burgundy, is also known as a French poet, a member of the Pleiade and one of the first to write sonnets in French. In his later years he gave up poetry and devoted himself up to mathematics and philosophy. Mantice, with other works, was reprinted in his Les discours philosophiques (). Kathleen Hall, Pontus de Tyard and his Discours philosophiques (); Tyard, Mantice... edition critique par Madame Sylviane Bokdam ().
VALVERDE DE AMUSCO, Juan (c. –c. ) Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano... Impressa por Antonio Salamanca, y Antonio Lafrerii, en Roma. An[n]o de M.D.LVI. Rome: Antonio Salamanca and Antoine Lafréry, . Folio: *, ✠, A–D, E, F, F, G–M, M M, N, O, P, P, Q–V, X, Y, a–b, c (– c), of leaves, ff. [], , [], – . [], –, [], –, [], –, [], –, [], –, []. a. Roman letter with Italic table and shoulder notes, sizes of woodcut historiated initials, a few anatomical woodcuts; engraved titlepage and full-page anatomical engravings. x mm. Title leaf soiled (but the impression still bright), some light foxing, mostly marginal, several leaves lightly browned. A good fresh and clean copy with fine impressions of the plates. Binding: Eighteenth-century vellum boards, mottled red and brown, red and brown sprinkled edges, later title and date labels. Provenance: Nicolas de Azora [?], eighteenth-century stamp on *; Richard Heber (–) English book-collector, small bookstamp on rear free endleaf; William Stirling (Stirling Maxwell, –), Scottish book collector, historian and art historian with bookplate, and gilt arms on sides, his pencil notes on front endleaf and his Keir House ‘Arts of Design’ bookplate on rear pastedown. First edition, the only edition in the original Spanish. ; Durling ; Wellcome ; Cushing VI.D.-. The Spanish anatomist, Juan Valverde de Amusco (or Hamusco in older catalogues) was a student of Realdo Colombo in Padua and spent a number of years in Italy. This is his best known work, published in Spanish at Rome in , the year after the second edition of Vesalius’ Fabrica. It is not a simple plagiarism of Vesalius, as is sometimes stated. The text, for example contains the first account of Realdo Colombo’s discovery of the pulmonary transit. The plates are derived from Vesalius, but figures are new, and others are improved in the anatomical details and artistically they are often very different. An écorché has the face of Michelangelo, his ironic self-portrait in the Sistine Chapel, and some of the torsos wear Roman armour. One of Valverde’s original figures is the fine full-length pregnant woman with the abdominal wall and peritoneum opened. The artist was probably the Spaniard Gaspar Becerra (–) and the engraver was Nicolas Beatrizet ( or – c. ), a Frenchman. The Spanish edition is very rare and was superseded by an Italian translation, made under Valverde’s supervision in and frequently reprinted. This is a very good copy with a distinguished provenance having belonged to the great English book-collector Richard Heber, and then to William Stirling Maxwell, before Walter Pagel’s ownership. The Stirling Maxwell provenance is significant because he wrote a number of influential books on Spain and on Spanish art and so would have been interested in the plates after drawings by
the Spanish artist Becerra. Pagel, on the other hand, was interested in the book for what Valverde says about the pulmonary circulation. ‘Valverde tells us’, he writes, ‘that, under the guidance of Realdus Columbus, he had observed that the pulmonary vein contains nothing but blood which cannot have entered it from the heart. He also says quite unequivocally at one place that nothing passes from one ventricle to the other directly...’. Pagel goes on to argue that it is Valverde’s text that makes it clear that Colombo’s discovery was independent of the changes made by Vesalius in the second edition of the Fabrica. (Walter Pagel, William Harvey’s biological ideas, , pp. –).
VALVERDE DE AMUSCO, Juan (c. –c. ‘) Anatomia del corpo humano.... in Roma per Ant. Salamanca, et Antonio lareri. M.D.LX [Colophon:] In vinegia, appresso Nicolò Bevilacqua Trentino. Rome: Niccolò Bevilacqua for Antoine Lafréry, . Folio: a πB–C A B–C, leaves, ff. [] . Roman and Italic letter. Engraved title on a (no letterpress title). Woodcut historiated initials. Woodcut anatomical diagrams printed in the margins. fullpage engravings printed in the text. Insertion from a later edition: ‘Oltre le figure ordinarie’, OO, leaves, with full-page engravings. x mm. Engraved titlepage worn and faded, cut close to the engraving and mounted on a new leaf; multiple wormholes through the last few leaves affecting text and engravings; several repairs to blank margins; last gathering washed. Moderate soiling and waterstaining throughout. Binding: Eighteenth-century vellum boards, rebacked, new endleaves. Provenance: Old inscription on verso of last leaf scored through and another inscription scraped out. First Italian edition, second issue with the date on the engraved title altered from to ; with additional plates inserted from a copy of the second Italian edition, Venice (first edition, in Spanish, Rome ). The first Latin edition was published at Venice in . ; Adams V; Durling ; Wellcome ; Cushing VI.D.-. The Italian translation was made by Antonio Tabo under Valverde’s supervision; the plates are the same as in the Spanish original but some marginal woodcut diagrams were added. For the second Italian edition, Venice , a portrait of Valverde by Beatrizet was added and four new muscle plates, presumably also by Beatrizet. This copy of the edition has these leaves: they have been cut out of a copy of the and inserted at the end of the muscle section.
VEGETIUS RENATUS, Publius (fl. – ) Artis veterinariae, sive mulomedicinae libri quatuor V, jam primum typis in lucem aediti. Opus sane in rebus medicis minime aspernandum. Basileae [Colophon:] Basileae. Anno. M. D. XXVIII. Excudebat Joannes Faber Emmeus Juliacensis. Basle: Johann Faber of Emmich, . to: [a]–b A–S, leaves, ff. [] . Italic letter with Roman headings. Title within a woodcut border made up of blocks; woodcut initials. x mm. Sig. G formerly detached and page edges browned and chipped, inner margins strengthened and the gathering fastened in again; tear in inner margins of last two leaves repaired with loss of several letters; light browning throughout. Binding: Recent vellum boards. Provenance: Inscription (seventeenth-century?) on title ‘Collegii S. Michaelis’ and a longer inscription in another hand, perhaps earlier, of the ‘Bibliothcea Collegii... S Nicolai’ on the verso of the last leaf. First edition. A German translation was published in , and editions of the Latin in and . V; Adams V; Durling ; Wellcome . The first work of the Christian era entirely devoted to veterinary medicine and the first monograph on the subject to be printed. Publius Vegetius Renatus was a Roman man of letters who flourished about – . He is not to confused with Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a soldier and author the famous military textbook. Nor was he a horse trader and farrier as is often stated. Publius Vegetius had travelled widely and set out to restore veterinary medicine to the position it held in ancient Greece and to counter the public indifference to the profession. He stresses the economic benefits of veterinary medicine and says that good hygiene is important as it is better to preserve the health of horses and cattle than to try to restore it. He says that he has consulted contemporary veterinarians as well as physicians. Frederick Smith gives a full analysis of the text in his unpublished The history of veterinary medicine (, pp. –). Having said in his section on Vegetius that his work, which he calls ‘epoch making’, was ‘the first veterinary work ever printed’, he later corrects this in a footnote (p. ), saying that veterinary science was treated by Ruffus in a book printed at Venice in and also that Moulé refers to th and th-century works printed as early as and others in and . None-the-less it seems safe to say that this is the first printed monograph on veterinary science. Frederick Smith, The history of veterinary medicine (), unpublished proof, Cambridge University Library, Syn....
VESALIUS, Andreas (–) De Humani Corporis Fabrica libri septem... Basileae, per Ioannem Oporinum. [Colophon:] Basileae, ex officina Joannis Oporini, anno salutis per Christum partae M D LV. Mense Augusto. Basle: Johannes Oporinus, . Folio: a–z A–V X (–X) Y–Z a–z A B–E, leaves, pp. [] – – – [], plus inserted leaves with blank versos as follows: a full sheet signed ‘X’ and numbered as p. and a full sheet following b, un-paginated, between numbered pages and (the half sheet signed ‘X’ has a blank verso and no page number). Roman letter with Italic headings. Title within a woodcut border, portrait of Vesalius on av, series of historiated initials, numerous woodcut anatomical illustrations, printer’s device on verso of last leaf (recto blank). x mm. Numerous round worm holes in text and images in the first half of the book, about holes in the early leaves, gradually diminishing to a single hole in the middle of the book, the remainder free of worming except for some marginal holes towards the end; titlepage soiled and with the wormholes neatly filled on the verso; folding inserted leaves strengthened in the folds; light soiling and browning throughout and a few minor stains. Still a fresh copy. Binding: Contemporary blind stamped pigskin over wooden boards by Franz Lindener of Wittenberg (Haebler I, pp. –) incorporating a roll x mm with initials ‘F. L.’ dated (Haebler describes a similar, but apparently not identical roll, x mm, also dated ). Clasps and catches missing, head of spine chipped, corners heavily worn. Still an impressive and very solid binding. Provenance: . Johannes Thal (–) of Erfurt, physician and botanist (see below), with his initials ‘I. T. E.’, date stamped on the binding and signature ‘Johan[n]is Thalii’ on title, and extensive annotations throughout apparently in his hand; . a later owner has written out an extract from Solenander’s Consiliorum () on Vesalius’ last days; . there is a shelf-mark ‘A.CzO’ on the title and notes on later editions of Vesalius on the pastedown. Second folio edition, third overall (first edition ). Cushing VI.A.-; Adams V; Bird; Wellcome ; Bird . Perhaps the most famous book in the history of medicine, the foundation of modern anatomy and physiology. This is an impressive and fascinating copy of the magisterial second folio edition, larger, and on thicker paper than the first edition. This fascinating copy is heavily annotated, presumably by Johannes Thal who signed the titlepage and whose initials and the date are stamped on the binding. The notes demonstrate an unusually close, indeed obsessive reading of the text. The reception of Vesalius’s work by contemporaries is currently much discussed by historians and this is a valuable example of one
reader’s response to the text. Johannes Thal was the son of a protestant pastor and was educated at the monastery of Ilfeld under Michael Neander. He studied medicine at Jena and practiced as a physician, first at Stendal, then as town physician at Stolberg and finally at Nordhausen. He died at the age of after a riding accident while on a visit to a patient. He is principally remembered as a botanist and the author of Sylva Hercynia, sivi, Catalogus plantarum sponte nascentium in montibus, et locis vicinis Hercyniae, published posthumously by Camerarius in . His name is remembered in the Linnaean genus Thalia, the alligator-flags.
VITRUVIUS POLLIO. Edited by Walter Hermann RYFF (d. ) De architectura libri decem ad Augustum Caesarem acuratiss. conscripti: nunc primum in Germania qua potuit diligentia excuis, atq[ue] hinc inde schema tibus non iniucundis exornati. * Adiecimus etiam propter argumenti conformatatem, sexti Iulii Frontini de aquaeductibus urbis Romae, libellum. Item ex libro Nicolai Cusani Card. De staticis experimentis, fragmentum. Cum indice copiosissimo, & dispositione longe meliori, qamantea. Argentorati in officina Knoblochiana per Georgium Machaeropioeum. Anno M. D. XLIII. Strasbourg: Johann Knoblouch the younger for Georg Messerschmidt, . to: * *a–*d *e A–H I α–ε ζ, leaves, pp. [] (i.e. , – omitted) []. Italic letter with Roman headings. Woodcut initials and numerous woodcut illustrations. x mm. Titlepage and first few leaves soiled and with short marginal tears; marginal waterstains in the first quarter of the book and the last few leaves, quite heavy in the early pages but then unimportant. Otherwise a good clean and fresh copy. Binding: Seventeenth-century blind ruled English calf, red page edges. Spine rubbed and headcap torn. Provenance: Two inscriptions on second free endleaf, the first largely obliterated but dated , the other ‘Guliellm. hythall’ [?]; another inscription on the first free endleaf torn away; Hopetoun House bookplate: the great Hopetoun library was sold at Sotheby’s – February, by John Adrian Louis Hope, th earl of Hopetoun (–), the books having been collected by successive generations of the Hope family starting with Sir James Hope (d. ), Governor of the Scottish Mint (Bernard Quaritch, Contributions towards a Dictionary of English Book-Collectors, reprint , p. ). First edition printed in Germany, second issue without Ryff’s name on the title and the address to the reader (first edition, Rome or ). Knoblouch published another edition with the same contents in . V; Adams V; Berlin ; Cicognara ; Fowler ; Ritter ; Muller p. Messerschmidt .
The fundamental handbook of classical architecture and engineering. It is the only Roman work inspired by Greek architecture and the main source for the many lost Greek texts on architecture. This edition was edited by the physician Walther Hermann Ryff who went on to produce the first German translation, published at Nuremberg in . In the latter he ‘skillfully won himself a readership scarcely familiar even with such terms as ‘architect’ and ‘architecture’ (Kruft p. ). The Latin text is based on that prepared by Fra Giocondo for the Venice and later editions and the illustrations are reduced copies of the woodcuts in Italian translation (folio, Como ). Included in this edition are two other works: Sextus Julius Frontinus, De aquaeductibus urbis Romae which had been included in editions of Vitruvius since the Venice edition of –; and Nicolas of Cusa, De staticis experimentis, not included in earlier editions, which refers to Vitruvius (it is printed in Nicolas’s Opera of , see no. above, ff xcivv–xcviiiv but not published separately). It is not clear why Ryff’s name was suppressed in this issue where the words ‘per Gualtherum H. Ryff argentinum, medicum’ on the titlepage are replaced by an asterisk. The address to the reader is by the publisher, Georg Messerschmidt, and does not mention Ryff’s name. There is a copy of the first issue at the Getty Research Institute, but most copies seem to be of the second issue. Hanno-Walter Kruft, A history of Architectural theory from Vitruvius to the present ().
WIDMANN, Johann (–) Tractatus de balneis thermarum ferinarum (vulgo Wildbaden) perutilis balneari volentibus ibidem. [Colophon:] Impressum Tubinge per Thomam Anshelmum Anno [et]c.xiii. Tübingen: Thomas Anshelm, .
to, A B (blank B), unnumbered leaves. Gothic letter. x mm. A fine fresh copy. Binding: Recent boards. Provenance: Bookseller’s ticket of Rappaport, Rome. First edition. W. A short pamphlet on the hot springs of Wildbad in the Black Forest. Other works by Johannes Widmann, called Meichinger, include De pestilentia (Tübingen, ) and Tractatus de pustulis, sive mal franzos (Strasbourg, ); he is not to be confused with Johannes Widmann of Eger (c. –c.), author of an arithmetic book, Rechnung auf allen Kaufmannschaft (Leipzig, ).
Roger Gaskell Warboys, Cambridgeshire Designed by Kitzinger, London Printed by Henry Ling, Dorchester March
To come: Part II: Books printed after 1600
