Josephus Thomas Rosetti - Systema Novum Mechanico-Hippocraticum - 1734

Important first original edition of the medical treatise by Giuseppe Tommaso Rossetti, physician and professor of medicine, published in Venice in 1734 by Antonio Bortoli.

The work, entitled Systema Novum Mechanico Hippocraticum de Morbis Fluidorum & Solidorum, ac de Singulis Ipsorum Curationibus. Opus Theorico-Practicum, represents an interesting testimony of eighteenth-century medicine and the attempt to reconcile the Hippocratic tradition with the new mechanistic conceptions of medicine.

Large-format quarto copy, complete with title page, index, and printing license, consisting of [4] preliminary leaves, 486 pages and a final unnumbered sheet. The edition features elegant header pieces, historiated initials, and woodcut typographic ornaments.

Binding

Original eighteenth-century full leather binding, with raised spine bands, richly decorated in gold and with a label bearing the title “ROSETTUS”.

There is also an antique ex libris applied to the upper board, an element that adds historical and collectible interest to the copy.

Conditions

Overall good condition for the volume’s age:

* original contemporary binding preserved;
* external wear and abrasions compatible with age;
* caps and corners with normal signs of time;
* interior generally fresh and legible;
* physiological traces of time on the paper present.

Dimensions: about 35 × 24 cm for copies known to be of the same edition.

Interest

Rare and fascinating testimony of the history of European medicine in the early eighteenth century, particularly interesting for scholars of the history of medicine, collectors of antique scientific books, and specialized libraries.

Venice, Antonio Bortoli, 1734.
First edition.
Quarto, [4], 486 pp.