Tractatus Rabbi Moysi de regimine sanitatis ad Soldanum Regem (A Treatise of Rabbi Moses Concerning a Regimen of Health for the Sultan)
Augsburg: S. Grimm and M. Wirsung, 1518. Hardcover. Five parts, small quarto (19.5 by 14 cm): a-d4 (= 16 leaves). [32] pp. Text in Latin. Title within elaborate woodcut borders; woodcut initials. Modern marbled boards. Lightly toned, with occasional faint smudges (mostly marginal). Three discreet worm holes (1mm and less) throughout, sometimes obscuring a letter, else a very good copy, with crisp text.
Early printing of the first Latin edition of Maimonides' Fi Tadbir al-Sihha (On the Regimen of Health). Like his other medical and philosophical works, it was composed in Arabic. The present translation, however, was likely based upon the 13th-century Hebrew version (Sefer Hanhagat ha-Bri'ut) attributed to Moses ibn Tibbon. The editio princeps (first printed edition) of this Latin version appeared at the monastic press of Sanctum Jacobum de Ripoli in Florence, under the direction of Fra Domenico da Pistoia, in an undated edition sometime between 1477 and 1481. In 1501 it appeared at Pavia as an appendix to a general treatise on the medical arts, the Tabula Consiliorum of Giovanni Matteo Ferrari, court physician to Francesco Sforza. The later editions of the Tabula which appeared at Venice in 1514, and again at Pavia in 1517 also include this Latin version of On the Regimen of Health. The present edition thus appears to be the first separate printing of this Latin translation to appear after the rare Florentine incunable.
A philosopher, physician, rabbinic authority and codifier of Jewish law, Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon, the Rambam; 1135 or 1138-1204) was the most illustrious Jewish scholar of the post-talmudic era. At the age of thirteen, he and his family fled Cordoba to escape the Almohad persecutions, and later settled in Fustat, an ancient district of Cairo. "It was here that Maimonides started to practice and teach medicine... [and] became the physician of al-Qadi al-Fadil, the famous counsellor and secretary to Saladin" (Bos).
On the Regimen of Health was composed at an unknown date, for al-Malik al-Afdal Nur al-Din Ali (ca.1169-1225), Saladin's eldest son. He was appointed by his father as governor of Damascus while still a youth and ascended to the throne as Sultan of the Ayyubid Empire in the winter of 1198/1199. Maimonides later served him in that capacity as court physician. In the Latin version of On the Regimen of Health, al Malik al-Afdal is described as The Great Sultan of Babylon (Magnifico Soldano Babylonie). In his preface, Maimonides describes his work as divided into four tracts, the first and last providing general medical advice suitable for all persons. The second treatise provides a regimen for the sick who are unable to consult a physician. The third is specifically intended for the Sultan, who has informed Maimonides about his medical complaints -- constipation, indigestion, and depression -- through his emissary (per suum nuncium significavit). There is a fifth part not mentioned in the preface (which appears in the Florentine editio princeps, as well) in which Maimonides criticizes the treatment of the Sultan by other physicians.
The "regimen of health," (tadbir al-sihha) genre has a long history in Islamic medical literature. Rooted in ancient Greek medical theory, it was reinforced with the ritualistic hygiene of the Qur'an and the later Hadith traditions. "Maimonides teaches that physical convalescence is dependent on psychological well-being and rest. He stresses the necessity of hygienic conditions in the care of the body, physical exercise, and proper breathing, work, family, sexual life, and diet, and suggests that music, poetry, paintings, and walks in pleasant surroundings all have a part to play toward a happy person and the maintenance of good health" (EJ).
"On the Regimen of Health is frequently mentioned, consulted and quoted in Hebrew literature; in the thirteenth century by Judah ben Samuel ibn Abbas and Shem Tov ibn Falaquera; in the fourteenth century by Israel ben Joseph Caslari, Joseph ben Abba Mari ibn Kaspi, Menahem ben Aaron ibn Zerah and Meir Aldabi. The physician Tobias ben Moses Cohn (1652–1729) quotes from Maimonides’ On the Regimen of Health in his Maʿaseh Tuviyyah which was 'the most influential Hebrew textbook of the sciences, especially medicine'" (Bos).
Provenance: early 20th-century bookplate of Jan Kok at front pastedown. Very good. Item #31810
References: G. Bos, Maimonides, On the Regimen of Health: A New Parallel Arabic-English Translation (Brill, 2019), preface and intro; Durling (NLM 16th) 3304; Enc. Jud. (1st ed.) 11: 779; Fürst, vol. 2, p. 314; Proctor (German 1501-1520) 10875; Steinschneider 6513.145; VD16 M6423 (providing imprint information: Sigmund Grimm and Marx Wirsung). For the first printed edition see British Museum, 15th Century (part VI, Florence, p. 623), IA. 27063; Hain 10525.
Full title and imprint: Tractatus Rabbi Moysi de regimine sanitatis ad Soldanum Regem [from colophon:] Augustae Vindelicorum. Anno virginei partus. M.D.XVIII. die. ix Iulii.
Opening line of text: Tractatus Rabbi Moysi quem d[omi]no et Magnifico Soldano Babilonie transmisit.
Uniform titles: ספר הנהגת הבריאות (Sefer Hanhagat ha-Bri'ut) / Fī tadbīr al-ṣiḥḥah.
Price: $6,000.00