De Medicina Aegyptiorum. Libri Quatuor. & Iacobi Bontii In Indiis Archiatri, de Medicina Indorum. Editio Ultima
Paris: Nicolaum Redelichuysen, 1645. First edition. Hardcover. Octavo. (11) 150 (25), 39 (1) leaves. Rebound in modern brown cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Red edges. First title page printed in red and black with publisher's device. Historiated and decorative headpieces, tailpieces and initials. Both titles second editions, Alpini's title first published in 1591, Bondt's in 1642. Alpini was a physician and botanist, Bondt a Dutch physician and pioneer of tropical medicine. Alpini's work is illustrated with four in-text and two full page woodcuts.
Alpini traveled in Egypt and became the fourth prefect of the Botanical Garden in Padua. "One of the earliest European studies of nonwestern medicine. Alpini's work dealt primarily with contemporary (i.e. Turkish) practices observed during a three-year sojourn in Egypt. These included moxibustion - the production of counter-irritation by placing burning or heated material on the skin - which Alpini introduced into European medicine... Alpini also mentioned coffee for the first time in this work" (Norman). With extensive index at rear.
De Bondt was a pioneer of tropical medicine. His work on East Indian medicine included here is based on experiences during four years he spent in Djakarta. It was the first important treatise on diseases in East India and includes the first modern description of Cholera and other tropical diseases. First published posthumously in 1642. Index at rear.
Text in Latin. Binding with light wear along edges and rubbed, spine lightly sunned. Ex-Libris of German-born British professor of chemistry Franz Sondheimer on inside front cover. The first four leaves frayed with small chips at lower foredge, no loss of text, a few small inked entries and a small stamp of the Royal Medical Society Edinburgh on front cover. Title page with paper reinforcement on back. First in-text woodcut with stamp in center, second woodcut with stamp grazing image, third and fourth with stamp outside imagery. The two full page woodcuts with stamps grazing the border of image. Some light sporadic foxing of block and last page with chipping along edges, some loss of the printed word Index, and foxing and browning along edges. Small dealer sticker on inside back cover. Good condition. Item #48771
Price: $1,000.00