C. Galeno - De Locorum Affectorum Notitia - 1547

Claudii Galeni
De locorum affectorum notitia libri sex.
 Gulielmo Copo Basileiensi interprete.
Lugduni (Lione), apud Gulielmum Rouillium,(1547).

12,5 × 8,2 cm; pp. [56], 389, [1].

Rare Lione edition in small format of the fundamental Galenic treatise De locis affectis (De affectorum locorum notitia), one of the key texts of ancient and Renaissance medicine. Galen analyzes with extraordinary systematic precision the diagnosis of diseases according to the parts of the body involved, distinguishing primary and secondary affections, causes, symptoms, and prognosis: a work that formed the basis of Western medical practice until the 18th century. The Latin translation by Guillaume Cop (Basel-born humanist and physician) was among the most appreciated and widespread in the sixteenth century.

This is one of the most elusive editions of this text; the 1547 Guillaume Rouillé print in pocket format is extremely rare on the antiquarian market. Sixteenth-century Galenic Latin translations, especially those in small format intended for professional use, appear very sporadically at international auctions and are particularly sought after by collectors of medical history, classical philology, and Renaissance science.

A complete copy, with contemporary annotations and underlinings attesting to active consultation by a physician or scholar of the time. Contemporary full vellum binding with worn spine.
Loss at the lower corner of the frontispiece, moisture stain of variable intensity in the lower part (visible throughout the work but not compromising legibility), flyleaves from p. 350 to the end, and a gap in the upper part of the first leaf. Despite the signs of time, it presents as an intact and historically significant exemplar.

A piece of notable rarity and high collector value; a rare opportunity to acquire a foundational text of the history of medicine in one of its least common sixteenth-century editions."