EXTREMELY SCARCE COLLECTION OF MEDICAL WORKSBY MICHELE SAVONAROLA

Only a copy in Italian public libraries

SAVONAROLA, MICHELE. Canonica Michaelis Sauonarolae. De febribus. De egestionibus. De pulsibus. De urinis. De omnibus Italiae balneis. Eiusdem tractatus sublimis de vermibus nusquam antehac impressus. Venice: Andrea Torresano, 1503.

Folio, 17th century full vellum binding, ff. [171].

EXTREMELY SCARCE EDITION OF SAVONAROLA’S MEDICAL WORKS, PRINTED BY ALDUS’ FATHER-IN-LAW.

The volume includes the treatises De febribus («On fevers»), De egestionibus («On evacuations»), De pulsibus («On throbbing»), De urinis («On urines»), De omnibus Italiae balneis («On Italian termal places») and De vermibus («On pinworms»).

GIOVANNI MICHELE SAVONAROLA (1385-1468) was a humanist, physician and scientist of Italian Renaissance. Among the most renowned doctors of the age, he taught at the universities of Padua and Ferrara. His most famous work, called Pratica Maior was a collection of all his observations gathered in everyday practical experience of the profession, whereas the De regimine pregnantibus et noviter natorum usque ad septennium is one of the first modern scientifical treatises on pediatrics and infant care. In order to understand Savonarola’s fame as a doctor in the centuries, one need only consider that Machiavelli’s Callimaco in the play La Mandragora uses Latin sentences taken from the Pratica Maior and form De Urinis while pretending to be a physician.

REFERENCES: CNCE 57296. Only a copy in Italian public libraries (Biblioteca Berio, Genova).

Minor traces of use and a light halo in the lower part of the leaves, but overall a very good copy of this extremely scarce work.