Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 30

DIOSCORIDES PEDANIUS, OF ANAZARBOS (fl. ca. 50 A.D.) [De materia medica]. De medicinali materia libri sex. Apud Chr. Egenolphum [1549] [40] 554 [2] pp., illus. 32.8 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 28

Jean Ruel (see No. 27) first translated Dioscorides' De materia medica into Latin at Paris in 1516 from the Aldine Greek edition of 1499. Altogether over thirty editions of his translation were published, the last in 1554. The contents of the various editions often differed and the present edition with its over 750 woodcuts was one of the more extensive and important to be produced. Following each chapter of Ruel's translation are the notes and commentary of Walther Hermann Ryff (d. 1562) which were originally published in 1543. Ruel also included a spurious tract on poisons but omitted the Notha and Adscripta that are common in most editions. In addition, the Annotationes of Valerus Cordus (1515-1544), De herbis et simplicibus medicinae of Euricius Cordus (see No. 192), and Herbarum nomenclaturae of Konrad Gesner (see No. 307 ff.) have been added to this edition.

See Related Record(s): 27 192 307

Cited references: Durling 1152; Osler 340; Wellcome 1788

Gift of John Martin, M.D.