August 21, 2011
PRINTED BY PAULUS MANUTIUS, the great Venetian printer and humanist
PRINTED 1554: FAMOUS COMPENDIUM OF ANCIENT MEDICAL SOURCES- SOME ONLY FOUND IN ORIBASIUS
WITH THE SPLENDID ALDINE DOLPHIN AND ANCHOR
The Book:
Oribasius; Giovanni Battista Rasario; Manuzio family.. Oribasii Sardiani Synopseos ad Eustathium filium libri novem : quibus tota medicina in compendium redacta continetur. Venetiis : Apud Paulum Manutium, Aldi filium, 1554. Colophon: Venetiis, Apvd Pavlvm Manvtivm, Aldi filivm, M. D. LIIII. Aldine device on t.p. and verso of final leaf. COMPLETE. 216 leaves ; 16 cm. References: Adams O 272; Renouard 159, 7; Durling 3411; Wellcome I, 4648; Handome copy in limp vellum, light spotting, minor inner marginal stain to last leaves, old discoloration of removed ex-libris on upper front pasetdown. FIRST LATIN EDITION. Rare in a contemporary binding in such nice condition; a similar copy sold Reiss & Sohn 2006 EURO 1624.00 [SOLD]
“Oribasius or Oreibasius (Greek: Ορειβάσιος) (c. 320–400) was a Greek medical writer and the personal physician of the Roman emperorJulian the Apostate. He studied at Alexandria under physician Zeno of Cyprus[1] before joining Julian’s retinue. He was involved in Julian’s coronation in 361, and remained with the emperor until Julian’s death in 363. In the wake of this event, Oribasius was banished to foreign courts for a time, but was later recalled by the emperor Valens. Oribasius’s major works, written at the behest of Julian, are two collections of excerpts from the writings of earlier medical scholars, a collection of excerpts from Galen and the Collectiones, a massive compilation of excerpts from other medical writers of the ancient world. The first of these works is entirely lost, and only 25 of the 70 (or 72) books of the Collectiones survive. This work preserves a number of excerpts from older writers whose writings have otherwise been lost, and has thus been valuable to modern scholars. The earliest known description of a string figure, presented as the surgical sling Plinthios Brokhos by Greek physician Heraklas, is among the preserved material” [Worldcat]
