De universa muliebrium, morborum medicina... Pars prima theoretica [AND] ... Pars secunda, sive praxis
Venice: Paulo Baglioni, 1644. Hardcover. Two parts, quarto (22.7 by 15.6 cm.). Collation: [a]4 b-c8 d6 A-L8; [a]2 b8 c10 M-2O8 2P4 (= 346 leaves; 2P4 blank). In our copy the title-page and index to the second part appear at the beginning of the second part. If the main sequence A-2O8 is bound continuously, however (as in many copies), the index will appear at the end of the second part, followed (curiously) by the title page. [52], 176, [40], 177-598, [2, blank] pp., folding index chart in second part. Text in Latin. Half title; full title pages with woodcut printer's device for each part; woodcut initials and ornaments; printed marginalia. Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with raised bands, gilt morocco lettering piece. Covers lightly rubbed/scuffed; moderate to mild dampstain beginning at half title and progressively fading through page 177, otherwise clean and crisp throughout. A good or better copy, complete with blank leaf 2P4.
Uncommon Venetian edition of this important and very popular early modern gynecological work by the eminent Rodrigo de Castro (1541-1627) "one of the foremost physicians in establishing gynecology in the Renaissance period" (Friedenwald). De Castro announces at the title his intent to present the material in a new order, not previously attempted (novo [et] antehac nemine tentato ordine). The first "theoretical" part deals with anatomy, menstruation, conception, gestation and the formation of the fetus, and other matters relating ot childbirth; the second, "practical" part treats of diseases common to all women, along with those which are peculiar to virgins, widows, the pregnant, the child-bearing and lactating, as well as the various kinds of sterility, along with their etiology, symptoms and treatments. De Castro attempts to adjudicate between the various schools, especially the most difficult passages in the Hippocratic corpus and Galen (quibus pleraque Hippocratis [et] Galeni difficilima loca).
Born in Lisbon, De Castro fled the Inquisition and arrived in Germany in 1596, becoming one of the earliest Jewish settlers in Hamburg. The various branches of the De Castro family furnished a large number of distinguished physicians in the early modern era. Soon after the establishment of the Inquisition, members of the family emigrated to Bordeaux, Bayonne, Hamburg, and to cities in the Netherlands, and later to the United States. Many, however, were not so fortunate: "[D]octors of this name were punished by the Inquisition as followers of Judaism as late as the eighteenth century" (Keyserling, citing four examples). De Castro was also the author of Medicus-Politicus (Hamburg: Froben, 1614), a seminal work on medical ethics.
A note on the editions: First published in a folio edition by Froben at Hamburg in 1603-4. The work was reformatted in quarto and re-published again at Hamburg by Froben (1617 and 1628), and Zacharias Hertel (1662); and at Cologne by Servatius Noethen (1689). Our Venetian edition falls between the third and fourth.
Provenance: Small sticker "M 258" on tail of spine; armorial ex-libris of Wm. Constable Esq., F.R.S. & F.A.S; ink entry of C. Tonstall at top margin of the first title page. Good+. Item #14738
References: ITICCUPBEE 10657; H. Friedenwald, Jewish Luminaries in Medical History, pp. 54-56; --- The Jews and Medicine, vol. 1, pp. 57-61, vol. 2, pp. 448-53; A. Hirsch, Lexikon, vol. 1 (1884), p. 681; M. Kayserling, "Zur Geschichte der jüdischen Aerzte, Ezechiel de Castro," [in:] Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums, Jahrg. 10, H. 1 (1861), p. 38; Krivatsy (NLM 16th cent.), no. 2288 - noting special title page bound after p. 598. This edition not in the Wellcome Catalogue.
Full titles and imprint: [part 1] - De universa muliebrium morborum medicina, novo [et] antehac nemine tentato ordine. Opus absolutissimum; [et] studiosis omnibus utile, medicis verò pernecessarium. Roderico a Castro Lusitano, philos. ac med. doct. per Europam notissimo authore. Pars prima theoretica, quatuor comprehensa libris, in quibuscuncta, quae ad mulieris naturam; anatomen, semen, menstruum, conceptum, uteri gestationem, foetus formationem, [et] hominis ortum attinent, abundantissimè explicantur. Cum triplice indice. Perillustri, [et] excellentissimo D. D. Iosepho Benzono Veneto civi publico anatomiae in patria lectori. Dicatum. Venetiis: apud Paulum Baleonium, M.DC.XXXXIV.
[part 2] - De universa muliebrium morborum medicina, Roderico a Castro Lusitano, philos. ac med. doct. per Europam notissimo authore. Pars secunda, sive Praxis. Quatuor contenta libris, in quibus mulierum morbi universi, tam, qui cunctis foeminis sunt communes, quam, qui virginibus, viduis, gravides, puerperis, [et] lactantibus peculiares, singulari ordine traduntur, subinde que variae sterilitatis species, earumq[ue]; naturae, causae, signa, [et] curationes, distincta [et] accurata methodo edocentur. Additis insuper singulis fere capitibus, eiusdem authoris scholiis, quibus, quaecumque circa foemineos morbos curandos dubia, aut controversa hactenus apud Medicos fuerant, brevissime deciduntur, ab eisque non parva lux cunctis aliis moribis proflignadis accessit, utpote quibus pleraque Hippocratis [et] Galeni difficilima loca universaque fere ars medica illustrantur. Cum triplice indice. Venetiis: apud Paulum Baleonium, M.DC.XXXIV.
Price: $1,250.00