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ACOSTA, Cristobal de (1597-1676), and Garcia da OR

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Burgos: Martin de Victoria Impressor de su Magestad, 1578. 8vo (190 x 130 mm). 512pp., [24], 448, 38, [colophon]. Architectural armorial title-page, woodcut portrait of Acosta, 42 mostly full-page woodcuts of plants drawn from life by Acosta, 8-line historiated woodcut initials at chapter openings, 38-page subject index, index of illustrations. Contemporary vellum. Condition: expert paper repairs to mask worming on l.r. corners beginning *1, terminating p.87, some catchwords supplied in facsimile, some margins repaired **4, **5, D3, D4, D5, p.239, faint dampstaining on first two leaves, colophon leaf, and some upper corners, light foxing; vellum soiled, ties lacking. Acquisition: purchased from William Reese Company, 1998, $5,775. first edition, an influential and finely illustrated tract with expert woodcuts drawn from life by acosta. An important and fascinating description of plants and animals of the East Indies including a treatise and two fine woodcuts on the Indian elephant. Acosta adaptated Garcia da Orta's unillustrated Coloquios dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da India (published in Goa, 1563) for distribution to a wider Spanish audience. His work surpasses the original in its systematic, first-hand observations of both East and West Indian plants. Orta was one of the first European scholars to express admiration for the civilization of China. He was a learned physician who had spent many years studying the local flora at Goa and those plants which could be used as remedies. Principally of his concern, was the belief that western medecine would benefit from closer contact with Eastern practice. Acosta met Orta during his travels through India in 1534. As the title indicates, Acosta drew the plants from life (al vivo) from his own interpretations (que las vio ocularmente). In 1572, Acosta sailed from Cochin back to Lisbon, continuing on to Burgos where he practiced medicine and operated as a surgeon from 1576 until 1587. This work was published in this city during Acosta's stay. Acosta's illustrations of the plants also gave the words for each entry in Arabic, Chinese, Malaysian, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, as well as in the languages of western Europe. He touched on the West Indies, occasionally mentioning the location of a particular plant in the New World. Among the Asian plants are ginger, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, opium and cardamom. The American plants described are pineapple, sugar, cane, rubber, and the 'Indian fig' of Peru. European Americana 578/19; Hunt 1:130; Innocencio 249; Norman 1:1; Palau 1962 ("libro estimado"); Penney, p. 5; Pritzel 13; Sabin 113; Durling 1064; Waller 183; garison and Morton 1819; not in Adams.

AE Footnotes [9]

Complete with 47 woodcuts.

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