Johannis Freind - Historia Medicinae a Galeni Tempore - 1735

Full leather binding somewhat worn at the hinges. Spine with five raised bands with gold tooling, gilt title in a light brown compartment. Red sprinkled edges.

1 white leaf, XL, 224, 1 white leaf

John Freind's History of Medicine translated into Latin by John Wigan. Dr. John Freind (1675-1728) learned medicine and Newtonian medical practice from his Jacobite teachers while studying at Christ Church, Oxford. The Jacobites bore a deep affinity with the simplicity of Newton's mathematical theory and shared many similar beliefs about human society. The Jacobites were also highly politicized and supported the deposed King James II; Freind published two works reflecting his political convictions. His affiliation with the Jacobites led to his arrest and imprisonment in the Tower of London. His close friend Dr. Richard Mead frequently visited him during his imprisonment and brought him a new edition of Daniel Le Clerc's Histoire de la Medicine. Freind was outraged by Le Clerc’s approach to the history of medicine and by how Le Clerc, a follower of Paracelsian methods, had left enormous gaps in his history by completely ignoring medieval progress. In response, Freind spent the remaining time in the Tower writing his own history of medicine. This history of medicine, according to Garrison and Morton (6378), “is the best English work on the period of which it treats.”

Beautiful and large illustrated printer’s mark on the title page. A long handwritten note in Latin in an antique hand on the verso of the first blank leaf. Ex libris affixed to the flyleaf. Slightly very light foxing of little consequence. The internal copy is almost uncut, very clean, complete and usable.