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Patrick's Rare Books

Scribonius Largus, Compositionum Medicamentorum, WITH, Celsus De Re Medica, 1529

Scribonius Largus, Compositionum Medicamentorum, WITH, Celsus De Re Medica, 1529

Aurelii Cornelii Celsi De Re Medica Libri Octo, inter Latinos eius professionis autores facile principis: ad ueterum & recentium exemplarium fidem, necnon doctorum hominum iudicium, summa diligentia excusi. Accessit huicthesaurus uerius, quam liber, Scriboni Largi, titulo Compositionum Medicamentorum: nunc primum tineis, & blattis ereptus, industria Ioannis Ruellii doctoris disertissimi. Parisiis apud Christianum Vuechel, sub scuto Basileiensi. 1529. 

 

Early (original?) boards in full brown leather, blind stamped and ruled. Respined and corners repaired at some point (likely 20th century). Red page edges. Several inscriptions on front paste down, early and modern, in various inks and pencil. One paragraph penciled French inscription noting the marginalia, refers to Pare, and ligature of arteries. Extensive worming at top occasionally focally affecting text. Extensive damp stain at top extending well into text. Some paper repairs. Scattered marginalia and underlining in an early hand. Engraved architectural title page with scene of Cleopatra with snakes. Decorative capitals. Y6 and **4 = blank, *1 = title to Scribonius 

 

Ffep, title, A-B^6, C^8, A-Y^6, *^6, **^4, Aa-Ff^6, rfep. 

 

Subject matter runs the gamut of medicine from antiquity, and the second work (Scribonius) includes references to rather exotic remedies which Scribonius dismisses as falling outside the scope of medicine, including eating the livers of gladiators, and drinking the blood from corpses. 

 

Scribonius Largus (circa 1 – circa 50 AD). See G-M 1785 & 1984.1: “Written in 47 CE, this is an important compilation of drugs and prescriptions. Among the 271 remedies are the first use of electrotherapy (for headaches) using the shock of the torpedo fish. and it records the drinking of one’s own blood as a therapeutic rite. Scribonius was the first to describe accurately the preparation of true opium.” 

 

Preceded by Cornelius Celsus (circa 25 BCE - circa 50) De Re Medica. See G-M 20, 3666.81, 5548.1, 5733.5, and 6375: “...the oldest Western medical document after the Hippocratic writings. Written about 30 CE, it remains the greatest medical treatise from ancient Rome, and the first Western history of medicine. Celsus’s superb literary style won him the title of Cicero medicorum. De medicina deals with diseases treated by diet and regimen and with those amenable to drugs and surgery. The surgical chapters contain the first accounts of the use of ligature, excellent descriptions of lateral lithotomy and herniotomy, and the earliest discussion of the surgical remedies for mutilations -- what we now call plastic surgery, including plastic operations for restoration of the nose, lips, eyelids, ears, etc. Celsus also included numerous important contributions to dentistry, including some of the earliest Western accounts of the treatment of toothache, oral surgery, tooth extraction, and fractures of the jaw. 

 

The text of De Medicina seems to have been neglected at some point during the Middle Ages, and when it was no longer copied, it was eventually lost. A copy was discovered in Milan in 1443. 

$2,000.00Price

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