Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 194

ALBAN THORER (1489-1550) De re medica. In aedibus Andreae Cratandri 1528] [12] 125 [1] ll. 30.1 cm.

This rare volume contains one of the earliest collections of those medical writers and physicians whose works bridged the period between the early Greeks and the Middle Ages. Soranus of Ephesus (ca. 98-ca. 138), In artem medendi isagoge, is here in its first edition. Fragments from Oribasius' tract, De victus ratione, are presented in their only edition. The treatise De re medica, ascribed to Pliny the Elder (23-79), differs from the only other printed version, published in 1509. De herbarum virtutibus, here attributed to Lucius Apuleius' (fl. 2nd century), is more likely the work of Apuleius Barbarus or Pseudo-Apuleius (fl. 4th century) and, as usual, is accompanied by De betonica commonly ascribed to the Roman physician, Antonius Musa (fl. 23 B.C.). Two fine woodcut borders and many initials add unusual interest to this work which is seemingly little known to the collectors, bibliographers, and medical historians.

Cited references: Durling 4351; Wellcome 5353

Gift of John Martin, M.D.