LULLUS, Ramon - LAVINHETA, Bernardus de. Opera omnia quibus tradidit artis Raymundi Lullii compendiosam explicationem … edente Johanne Henrico Alstedio … Hortulus medicus secretissimusKöln, Lazarus Zetzner, 1612

Small 8vo, mm. 176x100; Contemporary full smooth vellum binding with squares, title written on the spine; pp. [8], 668, [11, Index], 1 bl. From p. 345 begins with its own Titlepage: Hortulus medicus secretissimus promens & proponens miracula medica probatissima trium philosophorum celeberrimorum Raimumdi Lullii, Joannis de Rupescissa, & Bernhardi de Lavineta. Printer’s device on the Two Titlepages, a lot of woodcuts within the text, 4 at full page, 1 plate folded, between pp. 128 e 129, with 4 volvelle to be crop.

First edition of the Opera omnia of Lavinheta. Work of alchemy and astrology, contains a remarkable treatise on logic and another on the art of memory. The edition, edited by Johann Heinrich Alsted, features a large work compendium of Raimond Lull, based primarily on the Ars Magna Generalis and the Arbor Scientiae, while the second part with a separate title page is the Hortulus medicus secretissimus. According to the subdivisions of the Ars Lulliana, the work is a kind of scientific encyclopedia, with interesting sides also dedicated to geometry, arithmetic, music, perspective, physics, mechanics, medicine, and to all the liberal arts. The second part, Hortulus Medicus, contains interesting chapters on anatomy and surgery. The work is illustrated with many curious woodcuts, four of them in full page table folded out text with volvelle to crop contains directions on where they should be placed. This Bernardo lulliano compendium of Lavinheta appeared for the first time in the edition of Lyons of 1523, and this is its first complete reprint, with some additions. The Franciscan Bernard de Lavinheta was the most important Lullista the late sixteenth century.

Bonner: “Almost nothing is known of [his] background, nor even whether he was Spanish or French. We only know that before coming to Paris he taught at Salamanca. The brand of Lullism he brought there was that of the Lullist school of Barcelona and its interest in the Art. He was the first, as a trained theologian, to teach the Art at the University of Paris, thereby giving it the official sanction it had lacked for a century and a half. His publication of Lullian works at Lyon, Paris and Cologne in 1514-18 was very influential throughout Europe.”

Caillet 6866; Jöcher I, 303; Palau 133290; Krivatsky 6713. Anthony Bonner, Selected Works of Ramon Llull, Princeton University Press, 1985, vol. 1, p. 80.

Slight spread uniform browning due to the quality of the paper and the ink, overall good copy.