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Maimonides on Regimen of Health 1489

Title: Aphorismi secundum doctrinam Galeni
Author: Maimonides, Moses
Description: 130 leaves, including final blank. a-q8, r6. (small 4to) recased in period half blindstamped calf & wooden boards, new endpapers.First edition of Maimonides' Medical Aphorisms, sometimes called "The Aphorisms of Moses," a classic text on the regimen of health, one of the primary works of the great Jewish Scholar. This is the only incunabula of Maimonides to be printed at Bologna and is believed to be the only Jewish author de Benedictis published. One of the greatest Jewish figures of all time – a renowned religious authority and philosopher – Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) was a highly visible and sought-after practicing physician. "The traditional historical assessment is that he was 'unique in his time in the theory and practice of medicine.' Essentially, he practiced Galenic medicine, as transmitted and developed in the flourishing Islamic tradition. We don't know how he acquired his medical knowledge, but by the time he reached Fustat [Egypt], Maimonides was acknowledged to be a leading physician and in 1190 he was appointed personal physician to the vizier of Egypt. Late in life, Maimonides wrote a number of medical treatises, most importantly his Medical Aphorisms, which presents a coherent, well-organized, and practical medical system based on Galen and Aristotle." A rabbi, physician, and philosopher in Spain, Morocco and Egypt during the Middle Ages, Maimonides is considered the preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher of the day, whose ideas also influenced the non-Jewish world. His writings and achievements cover an improbably large number of activities. Maimonides was the first person to write a systematic code of all Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah; he produced one of the great philosophic statements of Judaism, The Guide to the Perplexed; published a commentary on the entire Mishna; served as physician to the sultan of Egypt; wrote numerous books on medicine; and, in his spare time, served as leader of Cairo's Jewish community. The leaves of this copy are numbered in ink in the top right corners, starting with leaf 6, but a leaf was skipped between 53 and 54, so though the final blank is numbered 129, the full 130 leaves are present. There are 5 leaves of contemporary, or nearly contemporary, ink manuscript notes bound in at the front of the book; occasional instances of early ink marginalia. The work is sometimes found with an additional 24-leaf imprint containing short texts by Johannes Damascenus, Rhasis and Hippocrates, with separate colophon and signatures, not present here and often lacking. Goff M77.
Heading: Place Published: Bologna
Publisher: Franciscus de Benedictis for Benedictus Hectorism
Date Published: 1489