Laurentii Bellini - Opera Omnia - 1708

THE MACHINE OF THE BODY. FROM DISSECTION TO GEOMETRY: BELLINI’S SCIENTIFIC WORLD
Lorenzo Bellini’s Opera omnia gathers some of the most significant investigations of Italian anatomy in the 17th century.
From the structure of the kidneys to the sense of taste, the human body becomes an object of observation and demonstration.
Studies on urine, the pulse, and the blood accompany investigations into the movement of the organs.
Anatomical engravings and geometric figures tell the story of the meeting between medicine and mechanics.
Two parts in one volume, in the important Venetian edition published by Michele Hertz in 1708.

ABSTRACT
The Venetian edition of Lorenzo Bellini’s Opera omnia collects the work of one of the protagonists of Italian anatomical research between the 17th and 18th centuries. The volume marks a decisive moment in the history of medicine: direct observation of the organs is paired with the attempt to interpret their functions through movement, pressure, and the laws of mechanics.
The first part comprises treatises on urine, the pulse, phlebotomy, fevers, and diseases of the head and chest. These writings document a medicine committed to linking the observable signs of disease with the body’s internal functioning, organizing different phenomena within a coherent explanation.
The second part includes the famous inquiries into the structure and use of the kidneys, together with the study of the organ of taste and other anatomical and physiological writings. The renal investigation constitutes one of Bellini’s most important contributions: the description of the kidney’s tubular organization helped renew anatomical knowledge. The engravings allow a visual follow‑through of the relationship among the described parts, while the geometric constructions attest to the influence of the iatromathematical school.
Thus the collection offers a structured reading of the scholar’s work, from his early anatomical observations to later physiological and clinical interpretations. His interest lies in the coexistence of text, images, and demonstrations: different tools through which the science of the era sought to make the complexity of the human body understandable.

WHY TO BUY
An important scientific collection for collectors of ancient medicine, illustrated anatomy, and the history of physiology. It brings together in one volume Bellini’s studies on the kidneys, on taste, and on circulatory phenomena, allowing one to grasp the unity of his research. The red and black title page, the printer’s device with the ship, and the anatomical and geometric engravings add to the content’s significance a notable figurative interest.

MARKET VALUE
Antiquarian appraisal: €900–1,200. It positions itself in the high-end market, valuing the scientific importance of the collection, the early 18th‑century edition, and the accompanying engravings.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Two parts bound in one volume, with distinct title pages. Collation: Part I, pp. (24); 504; Part II, pp. (8); 285; (3). Total: 824 pages, with irregular pagination. Five full-page copperplate illustrations included in the pagination: two anatomical in the second part and three final plates with figures and geometric demonstrations.
Latin text mainly set in two columns, with initials and ornamental borders. First title page printed in red and black; second title page in black. Printer’s device depicting a ship within an ornate frame on both title pages.
Stains and halos, folds, irregularities and small marginal defects. Text and figures remain clearly readable.
In old books with a centuries‑long history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing contains AI Visualizations. The images are an integral part of the description.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Lorenzo Bellini. Laurentii Bellini Florentini in Academia Pisana anatomes professoris celeberrimi Opera omnia. Pars prima [– Pars secunda]. Cujus tractatus sequens pagina indicabit. Cum praefatione Joannis Bohnii medicinae doctoris. Venetiis, apud Michaelem Hertz, 1708.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Bellini belongs to the Tuscan scientific milieu formed around the Galilean tradition and the teaching of Giovanni Alfonso Borelli. His research interprets the organism through observation of structures and study of their movements. The anatomical images and geometric diagrams present in the collection express this approach: to know the organs is to describe their shape and seek an explanation of their functioning. The work documents both the advances of anatomical inquiry and the ambitions and limits of mechanical interpretations of life.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Lorenzo Bellini was born in Florence in 1643 and died in the same city in 1704. He studied in Pisa, where he was a pupil and collaborator of Giovanni Alfonso Borelli and taught anatomy for many years. In 1662 he published Exercitatio anatomica de structura et usu renum, followed in 1665 by the study on the organ of taste. He served as physician to Grand Duke Cosimo III and combined scientific activity with literary and poetic interests.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Published posthumously in Venice by Michele Hertz in 1708, this first collective edition gathers writings previously issued in standalone form. The collection is divided into two parts and is accompanied by the preface of Johann Bohn. A later Venetian edition appeared in 1732, testifying to the continued circulation of Bellini’s scientific work in the course of the 18th century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
The collection comprises the core of Bellini’s anatomical and medical studies: the treatises on urine and the pulse, phlebotomy, fevers, and diseases of the head and chest; the investigations into the structure of the kidneys and the organ of taste; writings on the movement of the heart, bile, and natural contraction. For identifying the edition, the Venetian imprint of Michele Hertz (1708), the two‑part division, and the preface by Johann Bohn are decisive.