Mercuriale - De Arte Gymnastica - 1587

The first personal trainer in history: the body as therapy
The 1587 Venetian edition of De Arte Gymnastica by Girolamo Mercuriale represents one of the absolute peaks of Renaissance medical-scientific literature. A foundational work of sports medicine, the treatise restores therapeutic dignity to physical exercise through a rigorous dialogue between classical sources, direct clinical observation, and a systematic iconographic apparatus. Published while the author was still alive, this Giunti edition definitively consolidates the work’s European fortune and fixes its mature form, destined to influence for centuries the discussion on the relationship between movement, health and prevention, well beyond the strictly medical field.
Market value
On the international antique market, the Venetian edition of 1587 of De Arte Gymnastica generally falls in the range of 3,000 to 6,000 euros, depending on the quality and completeness of the iconographic apparatus, the structural soundness, and the state of conservation. The presence of the complete woodcuts, the historical importance of the work as a birth act of sports medicine, and the cross-disciplinary interest among the history of medicine, the science of the body, and humanistic culture support a steady demand. The noted structural defects and the later binding affect the valuation without compromising its collecting prominence.

Physical description and condition
Late parchment binding. Ownership signature of Tommaso Codronchi of Imola, son of the physician Giovan Battista Codronchi (1547–1628), a significant testimony to circulation within the medical-family milieu. Printer's mark on the title page and on the last leaf. Numerous woodcut engravings in the text, traditionally attributed to Pirro Ligorio from designs by Cristoforo Coriolani, with an explanatory and didactic function. Presence of glosses in an ancient hand, indicating active use of the volume. Fascicle D5–6 detached (pp. 55–56). Small restorations to the corners of the first leaves, some browning and light moisture marks. In old books, with a centuries-long history, some imperfections may be present, not always detected in the description. Pp. (2); 12 nn; 308; 26 nn; (2).

Full title and author
The Art of Gymnastics: Six Books.
Venice, at Iiuntas, 1587.
Hieronymus Mercurialis.

Context and Significance
Written in 1569, De Arte Gymnastica inaugurates the birth of modern sports medicine, reappraising physical exercise as a therapeutic, preventive, and regulatory tool for health. Mercuriale critically rereads the gymnastic practices of Greco-Roman antiquity in the light of Galenic medicine, distinguishing between healthy, harmful, and curative exercises, and adapting them to age, temperament, constitution, and specific pathological conditions. The iconographic apparatus is not merely ornamental: the images guide the reader in the practical understanding of the movements, turning the book into a true operating manual intended for physicians, educators, and aristocrats. This edition of 1587 reflects the stage of full theoretical maturity of the work and spreads its model across Europe, influencing preventive medicine, physical education, and the culture of the body up to the modern era.

Biography of the Author
Girolamo Mercuriale was born in Forlì in 1530 and died in 1606. A physician, philologist, and humanist, he was among the leading interpreters of Renaissance medicine founded on the critical recovery of classical sources. He taught in Padua, Bologna, and Pisa and served as a court physician. De Arte Gymnastica is universally regarded as his masterpiece and one of the most influential texts in the history of preventive medicine.

Printing history and circulation
The first edition of De Arte Gymnastica appeared in Venice in 1569 with a dedication to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. Followed were expanded and corrected reissues between 1569 and 1573, subsequently dedicated to Emperor Maximilian II, and an important Paris edition in 1577. The Venetian editions of 1587 and 1601 were published while Mercuriale was still alive and represent the most authoritative textual tradition. After the author's death, late reprints appeared in 1644 and 1672, the latter with interpolations and updates not always faithful to the original text.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
EDIT16, census of Italian editions of the 16th century: entry Mercuriale, De Arte Gymnastica (to be verified for specific collation).
ICCU – OPAC SBN: records of the Venetian editions 1569, 1573, 1587, 1601.
Siraisi, N. G., Medieval & Early Renaissance Medicine, Chicago, 1990, pp. 185–198.
Siraisi, N. G., Medicine and the Italian Universities, Leiden, 2001, pp. 312–320.
Singer, C., A Short History of Medicine, Oxford, 1928, pp. 203–208.
Wear, A., Knowledge and Practice in English Medicine, Cambridge, 2000, pp. 45–48 (for the European reception of Mercuriale).
Grafton, A., Defenders of the Text, Cambridge, 1991, pp. 214–218 (for the philological method applied to medicine).
Thorndike, L., A History of Magic and Experimental Science, New York, vol. V, pp. 476–482 (for the relationship between the body, science, and ancient tradition).