Antonii Musae Brasavoli medici ferrariensis in octo libros Aphorismorum Hippocratis & Galeni, commentaria & annotationes [...] Cum duobus indicibus copiosissimis

Folio (309x207 mm). [8], 1145, [3] blank, [151] leaves. Collation: *⁴ a-z⁶ A-Z⁶ aa-zz⁶ AA-ZZ⁶ Aa-Cc⁶ Dd⁴ A-L⁶ M⁸. Woodcut printer's device on title page and on last leaf verso, decorative woodcut initials. The copy has two ownership entries on the title page: “Ex libris Antonj Gambarotti M. Ph. et Chir. […]” (Antonio Gambarotti, fl. 18^th cent., was a physician and public lecturer of anatomy at the University of Padua) and “Bernardinus Schiatus” (a philosopher of the same name is recorded as a teacher of natural philosophy in the evening lectures at the Ferrara studio in the years 1593-'94, cf. G. Pardi, Lo studio di Ferrara nei secoli XV e XVI, Ferrara, 1903, p. 249). The copy also contains some occasional manuscript notes in the margin of some leaves, probably in the hand of Bernardinus Schiatus himself. 18^th-century half-vellum, lettering piece on spine, ink title on the lower edge. Small restoration to the right margin of the first four leaves, front flyleaf slightly detached from the binding, some light occasional spotting and marginal staining, uniformly slightly browned throughout (more strongly on a few leaves), all in all, a good and genuine copy.

First edition, dedicated by the author to Henry VIII King of Britain, of this important work that is mainly an extensive commentary on Hippocrates and Galen. The Latin translation of the aphorisms is by Niccolò Leoniceno (1428-1524, Italian physician, botanist and humanist and, also, the master of Brasavola). Antonio Musa Brasavola, a native of Ferrara, engaged himself in the most diverse fields of knowledge: he dealt with law (he is credited with the compilation of the Ferrara statutes adopted by Hercules II), philosophy, history, and poetry. But, most importantly, he was physician to several popes and three French kings, and, thanks to his knowledge of Greek texts, he reintroduced numerous forgotten plants into medical practice.

Index Aureliensis, 123.782; Adams, B-2698; Durling, 690.

[13701]