Montano, Giovanni Battista. - Ioan Baptistae Montani Medici Clariss. in celeberrima academia patauina summa cum laude olim profess - 1558

Basileae: Per Petrum Pernam (at the end: 1558). [15 x 11 cm] [26] [1] Bl., 349, [17], [1] + 1 folded plate. Very scarce work. Sheets in good condition, firm to the touch. Laid paper. Good printer. Water stains throughout the work and paper eaten by rodents at the lower right margin, not affecting the text. Minor trace of xylophagous in about 9 sheets. Curious note on the flyleaf of the former owner (1745). Beautiful font and beautiful initials. Antique parchment binding, probably the original, semi-detached but firm. Only one copy in Spain’s Collective Catalogue of Bibliographic Heritage (CCPB), at the National Library of Spain. CCPB000018110-2

Johannes Baptista Montanus (1498–1551) was one of the leading Renaissance humanist physicians of Italy. Montanus promoted the revival of Greek medical texts and practice, producing revisions of Galen as well as of Islamic medical texts by Rhazes and Avicenna. He was himself a medical writer and was regarded as a second Galen.

Montanus was born in Verona, and became a friend of the pioneering anatomist Andreas Vesalius. He introduced autopsies as a means of acquiring anatomical data, and established the first permanent anatomical theatre, where Vesalius, Gabriele Falloppio, Hieronymus Fabricius and others carried out studies.

Montanus became a professor of practical medicine at the University of Ferrara and at the University of Padua in 1539. His greatest innovation was to introduce clinical medicine into the curriculum as a way to integrate medical theory and practice. His students included John Caius, one of the most eminent physicians of the 16th century and a court physician of Edward VI, and Valentinus Lublinus. Lublinus was one of several former students who drew attention to their teacher's method by publishing his lectures and notes after his death. The new field of clinical medicine then began to attract students from northern Europe. In 1545, he helped establish the first botanical garden in Padua. He died in that city.