D. Timoteo Rosselli - DE SECRETI UNIVERSALI - 1644

The volume can be identified as a seventeenth-century edition of Timoteo Rosselli's work, a famous collection of recipes, remedies, and practical procedures. The title page clearly states Venice, 1644 and the indication “Appresso il Barezzi.” The work is documented in bibliographies as a rare text, with both Venetian editions following and preceding.

TIMOTEO ROSSELLI
De’ secreti universali di D. Timoteo Rosselli. Parte prima e seconda
Venice, Appresso il Barezzi, MDCXXXXIV [1644].
Rare seventeenth-century exemplar of the important treatise by Timoteo Rosselli, a work belonging to the tradition of the so-called books of secrets, collections of practical knowledge, medicines, artisanal and domestic methods widely diffused between the XVIth and XVIIth centuries.
The frontispiece reads: “De’ secreti universali di D. Timoteo Rosselli, parte prima e seconda, sì per huomini, & donne di alto ingegno, come ancora per medici, & ogni sorte di artefici industriosi, & ad ogni persona virtuosa accomodati. Con privilegio.” The edition is printed in Venice in 1644, Appresso il Barezzi.
The volume collects a wide range of recipes, remedies and practical procedures, including medicinal preparations, substances, waters, oils, artisanal processes and numerous “secrets” intended for both medicine and the arts and trades. Rosselli’s work enjoyed considerable editorial success and was reprinted several times during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Particularly interesting also for the history of medicine, pharmacy, applied arts and artisanal techniques, the text constitutes a significant testimony to practical culture and the transmission of knowledge in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italy. Bibliographic sources emphasize the rarity of the early editions and the particular regard for the work among collectors of antique books.

Copy: octavo format, with text in Italian, printer’s mark on the frontispiece. Old limp parchment binding, with evident signs of use and aging. Leaves heavily browned and with stains, damp spots and moisture traces; present are contemporary or ancient manuscript annotations and ownership marks. Binding with wear, abrasions, deformations and partial deterioration of the spine and boards.

State of preservation: overall fair to good, consistent with the high antiquity of the artifact; text generally legible.

Collector interest: a rare work of medico-pharmaceutical and technical-artisanal culture of the XVII century, particularly interesting for collectors of old books, history of medicine, pharmacy, alchemy, arts and crafts and the material culture of the early modern period.

• Total numbered pages: 268
• Total unnumbered pages: 33 (16 initial pages of the first part + 1 final of the first part + 16 initial pages of the second part)