1658 · Geneva
by PARACELSUS
Geneva: Sumptibus Joan. Antonii, & Samuelis De Tournes, 1658. Full Description:
PARACELSUS. Opera Omnia Medico-Chemico Chirurgica, tribus voluminibus comprehensa. Editio novissima et emendatissima ad Germanica & Latina exemplaria accuratissime collata... Geneva: Sumptibus Joan Antonii and Samuelis De Tournes 1658
The first Tournes edition of the collected works of Paracelsus. According to Neville, this is "The best and most complete edition of Paracelsus' collected works." Three folio volumes in two
(13 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches; 344 x 210 mm). [34], [2, blank], 829, [38], [1, blank]; [22], [2, blank], 718, [32], [2, blank]; [12], 212, [27], [1, blank], [4], 119, [1, blank], [7], [1, blank], 13, [5] pp. Pages occasionally misnumbered, but collates correct. Complete with the often lacking frontispiece portrait after Tintoretto, half-title and engraved vignette on the title-page of volume I. Separate title-pages for each of the three volumes, all printed in red and black. Text in Latin in two columns. Volume II and III bound together in the second volume.
This 1658 edition "is essentially based on the Palthen edition of 1603, but the 10th book of the Archidoxes has been added. This second volume contains the writings on magic, alchemy, Kabbalism, astrology and philosophy; the woodcut figures at the end illustrate Liber Azoth and the first 5 books of Archidoxis Magicae." (Kiefer Buch and Kunstauktionen).
Uniformly bound in full contemporary vellum. Vellum stamped with central devices and ruled in blind. Spines lettered in black. Vellum a bit soiled and spines darkened. A few dark spots to front board of volume I. Front outer joint of volume I split but holding firm. Some general foxing and toning as usual. Overall a very good set.
"Paracelsus, a much-travelled man, was one of the most remarkable figures in medicine. He was first to write on miners' diseases, to establish the relationship between cretinism and endemic goitre and to note the geographic differences in diseases... Osler said that Paracelsus was 'the Luther of medicine, for when authority was paramount he stood out for independent study.'" (Garrison and Morton, p. 11).
Paracelsus was a Swiss physician and one of the most colorful characters of the Renaissance and is often claimed as a guiding light of alchemy. In point of fact he was a founder of modern medicine and he once stated "The true use of chemistry is not to make gold but to prepare medicines." "[Paracelsus] central idea was that man is a microcosm; that each component of the body and each function has its parallel in the greater world, particularly in the stars with the regularity and interdependence of their movements... Paracelsus's significance in the history of medicine lay not so much in his discover of cures as in his general approach and his ideas on methods. First he applied chemical techniques to pharmacy and therapeutics... Secondly, in his medical teaching he abandoned the ruling system 'humours'; and the beginnings of modern pathology can be discerned in his work" (PMM).
HBS 68560.
8,000. (Inventory #: 68560)
PARACELSUS. Opera Omnia Medico-Chemico Chirurgica, tribus voluminibus comprehensa. Editio novissima et emendatissima ad Germanica & Latina exemplaria accuratissime collata... Geneva: Sumptibus Joan Antonii and Samuelis De Tournes 1658
The first Tournes edition of the collected works of Paracelsus. According to Neville, this is "The best and most complete edition of Paracelsus' collected works." Three folio volumes in two
(13 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches; 344 x 210 mm). [34], [2, blank], 829, [38], [1, blank]; [22], [2, blank], 718, [32], [2, blank]; [12], 212, [27], [1, blank], [4], 119, [1, blank], [7], [1, blank], 13, [5] pp. Pages occasionally misnumbered, but collates correct. Complete with the often lacking frontispiece portrait after Tintoretto, half-title and engraved vignette on the title-page of volume I. Separate title-pages for each of the three volumes, all printed in red and black. Text in Latin in two columns. Volume II and III bound together in the second volume.
This 1658 edition "is essentially based on the Palthen edition of 1603, but the 10th book of the Archidoxes has been added. This second volume contains the writings on magic, alchemy, Kabbalism, astrology and philosophy; the woodcut figures at the end illustrate Liber Azoth and the first 5 books of Archidoxis Magicae." (Kiefer Buch and Kunstauktionen).
Uniformly bound in full contemporary vellum. Vellum stamped with central devices and ruled in blind. Spines lettered in black. Vellum a bit soiled and spines darkened. A few dark spots to front board of volume I. Front outer joint of volume I split but holding firm. Some general foxing and toning as usual. Overall a very good set.
"Paracelsus, a much-travelled man, was one of the most remarkable figures in medicine. He was first to write on miners' diseases, to establish the relationship between cretinism and endemic goitre and to note the geographic differences in diseases... Osler said that Paracelsus was 'the Luther of medicine, for when authority was paramount he stood out for independent study.'" (Garrison and Morton, p. 11).
Paracelsus was a Swiss physician and one of the most colorful characters of the Renaissance and is often claimed as a guiding light of alchemy. In point of fact he was a founder of modern medicine and he once stated "The true use of chemistry is not to make gold but to prepare medicines." "[Paracelsus] central idea was that man is a microcosm; that each component of the body and each function has its parallel in the greater world, particularly in the stars with the regularity and interdependence of their movements... Paracelsus's significance in the history of medicine lay not so much in his discover of cures as in his general approach and his ideas on methods. First he applied chemical techniques to pharmacy and therapeutics... Secondly, in his medical teaching he abandoned the ruling system 'humours'; and the beginnings of modern pathology can be discerned in his work" (PMM).
HBS 68560.
8,000. (Inventory #: 68560)