Cardano’s natural observations and medical opuscula collected in their 16th century first editions

Cardano, Girolamo. De rerum varietate libri XVII. Adiectus est capitum, rerum & sententiarum notatu dignissimarum Index. Basileae, per Henricum Petri, Anno M.D.LVII [Basel, Heinrich Petri, 1557].
[bound with:]
Cardano, Girolamo. Opuscula. [at colophon:] Basileae, ex officina Hieronymi Curionis, impensis Henrici Petri, Anno M.D.LIX [Basel, Hieronymus Curio for Heinrich Petri, 1559].

Folio (302x200 mm), elegant full calf binding on wooden boards with many blind-tooled decorations positioned in concentric frames, gilt monogram S B at front cover, five raised bands spine with blind-tooled decorations and gilt lettering at second compartment, lacking brass clasps, pp. [12], 707, [1, blank], [32]; pp. [12, the last blank], 210, [2].

Woodcut illustrations all along the text and, between pp. 438 and 439 a paper volvelle on a small leaf that still needs to be cut out.

First edition of Cardano’s «De Rerum Varietate», renowned sequel and integration of the «De Subtilitate» (1550), bound with the extremely scarce medical «Opuscula» of the same author in their first and unique edition.

Both «De Subtilitate» and «De Rerum Varietate» belong to the Renaissance gender that today we would rather call trascendental philosophy. They are the result of naturalistic speculations of neoplatonic kind, made in order to unveil the arcane knowledge at the basis of the universe and the relationships among the elements. These works gather Cardano’s empirical observations, as well as his opinions in the about of supernatural and magic, as the titles of some of the chapters let shine through: De mundi partibus divinioribus (meaning “The most divine parts of the world”, including the essay on light Lux & lumen), De metallis (On metals), De lapidibus (On stones), De divinatione occultiore (Discovering the most occult things), De divinatione artificiosa (with reference to palmistry, witches, predictions, etc.).

For the first time in this book, Cardano describes a shaft with universal joints, which allows the transmission of rotary motion at various angles and is used in vehicles to this day. In his honor, this device is still called the Cardan shaft.

The De rerum varietate is here bound with the first and unique edition of the Opuscula, one of the most scarce books among Cardano’s production. It deals with medical phenomena and some of its most interesting sections are De Aqua & Aethere, De Cyna radice as a therapy against syphilis, Consilium pro Fluxu sanguinis coërcendo. The book ends with a praise to medicine and a passionate response to some critiques against the De Subtilitate. Girolamo Cardano (1501-1576) was an Italian philosopher, physician (he’s told to have been second just to Vesalius) and mathematician, famous for his querelle with Niccolò Tartaglia about the resolution of the cubic functions. He studied in Pavia and Padova, where he became doctor of medicine in 1524. From 1534, he used to teach mathematics in Milan and performing as well as a physician. From 1547 to 1551 he taight medicine in Pavia, and from 1562 in Bologna and then in Rome, where he spent the last years of his life and was also taken to trial for heresy. Cardano’s life was adventurous and troubled, as can be desumed from his autobiography De vita propria (1563).

Provenance: I. At the title-page, just under the portrait of Girolamo Cardano, handwritten inscription in brown ink Sum Francisci L. F[?]ghis 1561 followed by Latin quotations ending by the renowned motto prudens simplicitas.
II. At the verso of the second front fly-leaf, handwritten note by the philosopher Heinrich Gomperz who bought the book in 1917 from the important German bookseller Otto Harrassowitz (1845-1920). Heinrich Gomperz (1873-1942), was a philosopher and classics scholar, son of philosopher Theodor Gomperz. Gomperz was on the periphery of the Schlick Circle in Vienna, a pluralistic discussion group organized in 1924 by the physics professor Moritz Schlick, committed to the ideals of the Enlightenment. The Circle sought to make philosophy scientific with the help of modern logic on the basis of scientific and everyday experience. He was a patient to Sigmund Freud. In 1938, Gomperz emigrated to the United States, where he lived until his death. His father and his own collection of letters to many important scholars of his time belongs now to the Honnold/Mudd Library of the Claremont Colleges (California).

Minor traces of use and some losses to the back cover, anciently restored. The title-page has been reinforced to the inner white margin, light shadows at the first and last leaves, but overall a very fine copy, with wide margins.