John of Gaddesden
£2,900
Rare Books, Maps & Manuscripts
Auction: 10 September 2014 at 12:00 BST
Description
Rosa anglica practica medicine a capite ad pedes [edited by Nicholas Scyllatius]. Pavia: joannes Antonius Biretta and Fransiscus Girardengus, 24 January 1492. Chancery folio (275 x 190mm.), 174 leaves (of 178), *4 a-x8 y6, double column, 54 lines plus printed foliation, Gothic letter, 2- to 8-line initial spaces with printed guides, woodcut printer's device beneath colophon, contemporary German blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards, lacking e2, e7-8 (all supplied in facsimile) and blank y6, first leaf slightly soiled and torn without loss, pigskin soiled and torn with some loss, lacking two clasps [HC 1108; BMC vii 1005; Eimas 104; Klebs 424.1; Wellcome 2485; Goff J326]
Footnote
Note: First edition of the first printed medical book by an English writer. John of Gaddesden (c. 1280-1361) was court physician to Edward II and was supposedly the inspiration for Chaucer's "Doctour of Phisik" in The Canterbury Tales.