FIRST AND ONLY ALDINE EDITION OF PAUL AEGINETA'S MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA, ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WORK IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD

PAULUS AEGINETAS. Pauli Aeginetae Medici Opera. A Ioanne Guinterio Andernaco Medico exercitatissimo summique iudicii conversa, & illustrata commentariis. Adiectae sunt annotationes Iacobi Goupyli medici Parisiensis, in aliquot singulorum librorum capita. Ioanne Baptista Camotio Philosopho novissimè corrigente, cum quibusdam scolijs in margine positis. Venetiis, 1553 [al colophon: Venetiis, Apud Federicum Turrisanum, Anno 1553].

8vo, vellum from a medieval manuscript, ff. (8), (26), 383.
Text in Latin and Greek.

First and only Aldine edition of Paul's medical encyclopedia of medicine and surgery, very appreciated in the Middle Age, especially in the Arabic world.

Paul of Aegina or Paulus Aegineta (Aegina, 625?–690?) was a 7th-century Byzantine Greek physician best known for writing this medical encyclopedia in seven books. For many years in the Byzantine Empire, this work contained the sum of all Western medical knowledge and was unrivaled in its accuracy and completeness.

William Smith wrote that his reputation in the Islamic world seems to have been very great, and it is said that he was especially consulted by midwives, whence he received the name of Al-kawabeli or "the Accoucheur." He is said by the Arabic writers to have written a work, "De Mulierum Morbis," and another, "De Puerulorum Vivendi Ratione atque Curatione." His great work was translated into Arabic by Hunayn ibn Ishaq.

The sixth book on surgery in particular was referenced in Europe and the Arab world throughout the Middle Ages, and is of special interest for surgical history. The first full translation into English, was by Francis Adams in 1834.

References: Renouard, 156, 8. CNCE 34792.

Normal traces of use, but a good copy.