Henricus Regius - Fundamenta medica - 1647

Early medical foundational work, which reinterprets traditional humoral pathology in favor of a natural-philosophical-mechanical view, thereby reflecting the transition to modern medicine, with remarkable noble provenance.
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First edition. Publisher: Utrecht, Theodor Ackersdyck, „2047“ (recte: 1647). 10 leaves, 282 pages, 1 leaf of title in red and black with woodcut title vignette. 20 × 15.5 cm. Contemporary leather binding with spine gilding and gold-embossed spine title (with signs of use, old restored).
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First edition of this foundational work by the Dutch physician and Cartesianist Henricus Regius (1598–1679), a close associate of René Descartes and a notable proponent of a naturphilosophically oriented medicine. The present exemplar bears the well-known typographical error in the imprint (“2047” instead of 1647), the correct dating being secured by the foreword.

In the Fundamenta medica Regius develops a medical system that critically questions the traditional Galenic doctrine and replaces it with a more mechanistic-scientific approach. The work exemplifies the shift from scholastic to modern medicine and is among the important early testimonies of a rationalized healing art in the Cartesian milieu.
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With engraved coat-of-arms ex libris of the Provençal noble family Ruffo de Bonneval de La Fare, a line traceable since the 16th century and established in the Ancien Régime, connected through marriage to the southern Italian princely family Ruffo di Calabria. The family belonged to the upper administrative and military aristocracy of Provence and repeatedly supplied high officials, officers, and members of the regional parliaments in the 17th and 18th centuries.
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Innengelenke angeplatzt. Titel mit altem Besitzeintrag und im Falz mit dem Vorsatz verklebt. Insgesamt ein gut erhaltenes, sammelwürdiges Exemplar einer seltenen und medizinhistorisch bedeutsamen Erstauflage.