Michael Scot or Albertus, Magnus Saint - De secretis mulierum : item de virtutibus herbarum lapidum et animalium - 1643

12mo: 366 pages with index.

Lovely engraved title page.

Three texts in one 12mo:

Alberti Magni De secretis mulierum --
Alberti Magni De virtutibus herbarum, lapidum, et animalium --
Michaelis Scoti De secretis naturae.

"Alberti Magni Libellus, De mirabilibus mundi": p. 175-223; "Michaëlis Scoti Libellus, De secretis naturæ": p. 225-366.

The two works named in the title are variously attributed to Albertus Magnus, Henricus de Saxonia, and Albertus de Saxonia.

The calf binding has a cracked spine but is holding together well, for the fibre of the binding is good.

The first text here on women's secrets is notorious. It was popular throughout the late middle ages and into modern times. The Secrets deals with human reproduction and was written to instruct celibate medieval monks on the facts of life and some of the ways of the universe. However, the book had a much more far-reaching influence. The message that women were evil, lascivious creatures built on the misogyny of the work's Aristotelian sources and laid the groundwork for serious persecution of women.

Both the content of the treatise and the reputation of its author (erroneously believed to be Albertus Magnus) inspired a few medieval scholars to compose lengthy commentaries on the text, substantial selections from which are included, providing further evidence of how medieval men interpreted science and viewed the female body.