Sales catalogue: R Lier & Co

Date:
01 January 1932
Reference:
WA/HMM/CM/Sal/40/19
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sales catalogue: R Lier & Co. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Fy won Uuwah hae ™ 2i|t|32 ma eM =) ween Kens: January 1st, 1932. | Nr. 3. (WN «WEEKLY LIST OF 2s|1)32 EARLY MEDICAL BOOKS: STANDARD WORKS = PIONEERS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE FROM 1478 TO 1850 (A-H) offered for sale by R. LIER & C? ; FIRENZE (125) Italy Via dei Bardi, 32 Telegraphic and Cable Address: Lierco=Firenze. y Wa/ HMM {com /SAL/S0 | Je ar ONE OF THE VERY FIRST WORKS ON EMBRYOLOGY APPARENTLY HITHERTO UNRECORDED. «87, AEGIDIUS COLUMNA, Romanus. De formatione humani corporis. Tractatus de formatione = ars _ humani corporis in utero matris. 58 leaves. Fine woodcut-title showing amoretti and ani- eon ies- mals. Svo. Venice, Pentius de Leuco, 1523. Swiss Frs. 675.—_ ee PEN a eal on - ~ PAE 0 Rae eg i” Ay i _FIRST WORKS ON EMBRYOLOGY, APPARENTLY NOT. fe -AND-N ee a een SAAR NE PS ny eae OY pe ey RR Eg _ OF OUTSTANDING RARITY. , - We cannot find any copy of this work recorded in the catalogues of Old Medical Books of the last twenty years. _. No eopy in the Bibliotheca Osleriana. . _. The unique reference of this work we are able to find, is in the catalogue of the ‘ Surgeon Library ’, Washington, which { describes an undated Paris-edition (about 1515-1520), with a slightly different title and the here offered edition of our ut 36 work. To our knowledge, there exists no edition of this workin the 15th century, therefore the undated Paris-edition . ar and the edition here offered are doubtless the very first editions ever printed. The editor, ‘ Frater Augustinus Montifalconius, eremita Augustinianus ’, tells us in the preface (dated Venice, 1522) on his intention to edit Aegidius Columna’s De humani corporis formatione, as follows: ‘‘.... librum, quem etsi quispiam forte a professione religiosi alienum esse calumniabitur, ex hoe tamen intelliget Egidium Romanum Colum- nam, nullum scientiarum genus latuisse.... sed que maxime necessarium ad phisicas disciplinas traduntur..., ”. The contents of the work are strictly embryological. The book has been divided into 25 chapters, of which we quote the followings: ‘‘ In quo ponuntur opiniones medicorum quae in spermate feminae est virtus activa ad formationem foetus. Quomodo mulier impregnari possit sine emissione spermatis. Quomodo femina in utero matris tardius format quae masculus: sed extra uterum cicius perficitur et completur. Quomodo puer sive fetus triplici pellicula sive tri- plici membrana involvitur. Quomodo embrione in primo tormantur membra principalia. In quo agitur quae causa sit masculitatis et quae feminitatis et unde est quae non semper agens assimilat sibi passum quae non semper gene- rantur masculi. Etc. ete. ’’. Aegidius Columna, probably a member of the noble Colonna-family, born at Rome in 1247, became the head of the order of the Augustinian Eremite Friars and later archbishop of Bourges ; he died at Avignon in 1316. He is known as author of the ‘‘ De regimine principum ”’ and of some commentaries to Aristoteles’ works (Hain 107-44). None of these commentaries includes his treatise on human embryology. ONE OF THE VERY FIRST BOOKS EVER PRINTED ON OBSTETRICS. 88. ALBERTUS MAGNUS. Secreta mulierum et virorum, cum expositione Henrici de Saxonia. Black letter. 28 lines. 56 leaves. Quarto. Half calf. (Venice, Adam von Rottweil), 1478. Frs, 1.250. — Osler, Incunabula Medica, nr.146. Gesamtkatalog 763. Hain 563. Proctor 4419. Brit. Mus. V, p. 249. Pellechet 368. EXTREMELY RARE. One of only ten books known from this early Venetian press. The dates connected with Adam von Rottweil are 1476-78, and 1480, — Probably Albertus Magnus’ authorship for this work cannot be upheld. Deals with generation, foetus, birth, miscarriages, etc. Important for the history of obstetrics. ~ ‘“‘ Of the text of the De secretis mulierum (variously ascribed to Albertus Magnus and to Henricus de Saxonia in the early editions) only the first words in each chapter are quoted. The commentary is that found in Hain 566’ (Br. Mus.).