DELLA PORTA, Giovan Battista (c.1538-1615). Phytognomonica … Octo libris contenta. In quibus noua, facillimaque affertur methodus, qua plantarum, animalium, metallorum, rerum denique. Naples: Horatius Salvianus, 1588.
DELLA PORTA, Giovan Battista (c.1538-1615). Phytognomonica … Octo libris contenta. In quibus noua, facillimaque affertur methodus, qua plantarum, animalium, metallorum, rerum denique. Naples: Horatius Salvianus, 1588. 2º (303 x 218mm). Scrollwork title border in four parts, woodcut medallion portrait of the author on title verso, 32 half-page woodcuts including two repetitions, cherub and grotesque ornaments, initials in several styles. (Purchase inscription on title verso showing through to recto, foremargin of title and preliminaries soiled, occasional stains, light worming at bottom margin of quires CC-GG occasionally affecting text, the bigger tracks repaired, waterstaining at bottom margin towards end, quire RR and index leaves repaired at lower corners.) Later flexible vellum, spine lettered in gilt (joints rubbed, a few holes to covers, recased with new endpapers). FIRST EDITION, 1588 issue; some copies have a 1589 publication date. The plants, animals and insects among the scrollwork of the title-page also appear as illustrations in the text. The four border compartments likewise recur as headpieces within the volume. The upper compartment contains the author’s own device of a lynx – subsequently adopted with the motto ‘Auspicit et Inspicit’ by the Accademia dei Lincei on its foundation in 1603. The general purpose of the cuts is to illustrate unsuspected analogies between the physiognomy of plants and higher forms of life. Della Porta’s doctrine of signatures held ‘that divine providence had formed plants in such a way as to indicate the ailments they could cure, e.g. a walnut looked like the human brain, so could cure head ailments’ (Hunt). Adams P-1938; BL/STC Italian Books p. 536; Brunet IV, 826; Honeyman 2520; Hunt I, 158; Mortimer/Harvard Italian 399; Nissen BBI 463; NLM/Durling 3734; Wellcome 5203.
DELLA PORTA, Giovan Battista (c.1538-1615). Phytognomonica … Octo libris contenta. In quibus noua, facillimaque affertur methodus, qua plantarum, animalium, metallorum, rerum denique. Naples: Horatius Salvianus, 1588.
DELLA PORTA, Giovan Battista (c.1538-1615). Phytognomonica … Octo libris contenta. In quibus noua, facillimaque affertur methodus, qua plantarum, animalium, metallorum, rerum denique. Naples: Horatius Salvianus, 1588. 2º (303 x 218mm). Scrollwork title border in four parts, woodcut medallion portrait of the author on title verso, 32 half-page woodcuts including two repetitions, cherub and grotesque ornaments, initials in several styles. (Purchase inscription on title verso showing through to recto, foremargin of title and preliminaries soiled, occasional stains, light worming at bottom margin of quires CC-GG occasionally affecting text, the bigger tracks repaired, waterstaining at bottom margin towards end, quire RR and index leaves repaired at lower corners.) Later flexible vellum, spine lettered in gilt (joints rubbed, a few holes to covers, recased with new endpapers). FIRST EDITION, 1588 issue; some copies have a 1589 publication date. The plants, animals and insects among the scrollwork of the title-page also appear as illustrations in the text. The four border compartments likewise recur as headpieces within the volume. The upper compartment contains the author’s own device of a lynx – subsequently adopted with the motto ‘Auspicit et Inspicit’ by the Accademia dei Lincei on its foundation in 1603. The general purpose of the cuts is to illustrate unsuspected analogies between the physiognomy of plants and higher forms of life. Della Porta’s doctrine of signatures held ‘that divine providence had formed plants in such a way as to indicate the ailments they could cure, e.g. a walnut looked like the human brain, so could cure head ailments’ (Hunt). Adams P-1938; BL/STC Italian Books p. 536; Brunet IV, 826; Honeyman 2520; Hunt I, 158; Mortimer/Harvard Italian 399; Nissen BBI 463; NLM/Durling 3734; Wellcome 5203.
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