[FIRST EDITION] - Medicae Artis Principes - 1567

Surgery – Operations - Medicine - Healing Arts - 16th Century - Woodcuts

Principles of the medical art, after Hippocrates and Galen. The Greeks rendered into Latin...

Henricus Stephanus (Editor)
1567, Geneva, Switzerland - FIRST EDITION!

Very rare, splendid edition in two parts with numerous woodcuts in the text (see photos).

Large medical folio from the famous workshop of the humanist Henricus Stephanus. The work gathers in Latin translation the most important physicians after Hippocrates and Galen, including Aretaeus, Rufus Ephesius, Oribasius, Paulus of Aegina, Aëtius, Alexander Trallianus, Actuarius, Nicolaus Myrepsus, as well as the Latin authors Celsus, Scribonius Largus and Marcellus Empiricus. For physicians and scholars of the Renaissance, this edition was a central reference work and one of the most comprehensive collections of ancient medical texts of its time.

Particularly impressive are the numerous wood engravings in the Oribasius section: surgical instruments, knotting and bandaging techniques, traction and extension devices, ladders and stands, mechanical apparatuses for operations and treatments. Also included are schematic representations of machines and devices for fixing the body. These images are among the most important early illustrations of surgery and vividly show how Renaissance contemporaries imagined ancient medical technology.

Contemporary blind-stamped pigskin binding over stout wooden boards, with rich Renaissance-tooling and the original metal clasps. The binding is rubbed all around, with small losses and signs of wear, but overall solid and in good condition. Inside, clean, legible paper, occasionally slightly browned or foxed; somewhat worm-eaten. The title is lightly damaged at the lower edge. Title with the Estienne printer’s mark and an old handwritten table of contents.

Pages: Title page + 6 pp. + 768 pp. + 696 pp.