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Auction archive: Lot number 34

DIOSCORIDES, PEDACIUS. Dyoscorides exactissimi indagatoris... scriptoris virtutum simplicium medicinarum Liber cccccccxvij continens capitula: cum nonnullis additionibus Petri paduanensis in margine libri notatis. Eiusdem Dyoscoridis de naturis & vir...

Auction 04.06.1997
4 Jun 1997
Estimate
US$3,000 - US$4,000
Price realised:
US$3,680
Auction archive: Lot number 34

DIOSCORIDES, PEDACIUS. Dyoscorides exactissimi indagatoris... scriptoris virtutum simplicium medicinarum Liber cccccccxvij continens capitula: cum nonnullis additionibus Petri paduanensis in margine libri notatis. Eiusdem Dyoscoridis de naturis & vir...

Auction 04.06.1997
4 Jun 1997
Estimate
US$3,000 - US$4,000
Price realised:
US$3,680
Beschreibung:

DIOSCORIDES, PEDACIUS. Dyoscorides exactissimi indagatoris... scriptoris virtutum simplicium medicinarum Liber cccccccxvij continens capitula: cum nonnullis additionibus Petri paduanensis in margine libri notatis. Eiusdem Dyoscoridis de naturis & virtutibus aquarum tractaus vnus. [Preface by Antoine de Toledo]. (Lyon: Gilbert de Villiers for Bartholomaeus Trot, 19 March 1512). 4to, contemporary vellum, slightly soiled, stitching loosening at back, some light marginal dust-soiling . Collation: A-B a-o 8 p 12 . 140 leaves, the last blank. Gothic type, double column, commentary printed as shoulder notes. Title printed in red above large woodcut of an author presenting a book to (or receiving one from) a botanist seated on a throne and holding a flower, the scene set within a columned terrace in a pastoral setting, white on black woodcut opening initials, spaces for initials with guidelines elsewhere. VERY RARE second edition of the translation in alphabetical order attributed to Constantinus Africanus, with the commentary of Petrus de Abano, used for the first printed edition of Dioscorides printed by Johannes de Medemblick in Colle di Val d'Elsa in 1478. Considering the overwhelming dominance over pre-Renaissance herbal writings of the Dioscordean corpus of medicinal plants and "associative" classification of plants by similarities of form or medicinal application (cf. Grolier/Norman, pp. 18-19), it is surprising that Medemblick's edition and the Aldine editio princeps (1499) were the only editions of the text to appear in the fifteenth century, and that the first illustrated edition did not appear until 1543. The first Latin translation of Dioscorides, which followed his original non-alphabetic arrangement, is thought to date back to the sixth century or earlier. The present translation, ascribed in a 13th century Bamberg manuscript to Constantine the African (d. 1087) is a reworking of this early Latin version, with the entries rearranged in semi-alphabetical order (by first letter only) and some material discarded, and with approximately a third of the text taken from other Latin, Greek and Arabic sources. Peter of Abano's glosses were added in the fourteenth century. This medieval translation was soon to be superseded by the Latin translations of Ermolao Barbaro and Jean Ruel, both first published in 1516, and both of which returned to the original Dioscordean text, with its explicit rejection of alphabetical order as antithetical to the proper understanding of the particular qualities and applications of plants. Baudrier VIII, 422-4; BM/STC French , p. 137; NLM/Durling 1138; cf. Grolier/Norman 3. Provenance : Monastery of Castelnau de Médoc, early inscription on title, "Ad usum fratrem minorum recollectorum conventus neomagensis".

Auction archive: Lot number 34
Auction:
Datum:
4 Jun 1997
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Park Avenue
Beschreibung:

DIOSCORIDES, PEDACIUS. Dyoscorides exactissimi indagatoris... scriptoris virtutum simplicium medicinarum Liber cccccccxvij continens capitula: cum nonnullis additionibus Petri paduanensis in margine libri notatis. Eiusdem Dyoscoridis de naturis & virtutibus aquarum tractaus vnus. [Preface by Antoine de Toledo]. (Lyon: Gilbert de Villiers for Bartholomaeus Trot, 19 March 1512). 4to, contemporary vellum, slightly soiled, stitching loosening at back, some light marginal dust-soiling . Collation: A-B a-o 8 p 12 . 140 leaves, the last blank. Gothic type, double column, commentary printed as shoulder notes. Title printed in red above large woodcut of an author presenting a book to (or receiving one from) a botanist seated on a throne and holding a flower, the scene set within a columned terrace in a pastoral setting, white on black woodcut opening initials, spaces for initials with guidelines elsewhere. VERY RARE second edition of the translation in alphabetical order attributed to Constantinus Africanus, with the commentary of Petrus de Abano, used for the first printed edition of Dioscorides printed by Johannes de Medemblick in Colle di Val d'Elsa in 1478. Considering the overwhelming dominance over pre-Renaissance herbal writings of the Dioscordean corpus of medicinal plants and "associative" classification of plants by similarities of form or medicinal application (cf. Grolier/Norman, pp. 18-19), it is surprising that Medemblick's edition and the Aldine editio princeps (1499) were the only editions of the text to appear in the fifteenth century, and that the first illustrated edition did not appear until 1543. The first Latin translation of Dioscorides, which followed his original non-alphabetic arrangement, is thought to date back to the sixth century or earlier. The present translation, ascribed in a 13th century Bamberg manuscript to Constantine the African (d. 1087) is a reworking of this early Latin version, with the entries rearranged in semi-alphabetical order (by first letter only) and some material discarded, and with approximately a third of the text taken from other Latin, Greek and Arabic sources. Peter of Abano's glosses were added in the fourteenth century. This medieval translation was soon to be superseded by the Latin translations of Ermolao Barbaro and Jean Ruel, both first published in 1516, and both of which returned to the original Dioscordean text, with its explicit rejection of alphabetical order as antithetical to the proper understanding of the particular qualities and applications of plants. Baudrier VIII, 422-4; BM/STC French , p. 137; NLM/Durling 1138; cf. Grolier/Norman 3. Provenance : Monastery of Castelnau de Médoc, early inscription on title, "Ad usum fratrem minorum recollectorum conventus neomagensis".

Auction archive: Lot number 34
Auction:
Datum:
4 Jun 1997
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Park Avenue
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