Monteux, Hierosme de. Halosis febrium, Quae omnium morborum gravissimae sunt, libri IX. Chirurgica auxilia ad aliquot affectus, qui repentinam exigunt curationem. Morbi item venerei, ac eorum, qui huic vicini sunt, curationes, πραγματεια. Lyon: Jean I de Tournes & Guillaume Gazeau, 1558
A treatise organized in three separate parts, the first devoted to pestilential fevers, including a grotesque case of hydrocephalus in a baker (Halosis febrium); the second to surgery and venereal diseases (Chirurgica auxilia); the last (De infantium febribus) to the treatment of afflictions and diseases of children, among them siriasis, and epilepsy, which is distinguished from spasms and convulsions (“mater puerorum”). Each part is independently dedicated, respectively to Charles de Guise, Cardinal de Lorraine (ex nostro castro Rivoriae, 1558); François de Lorraine, Duc de Guise (ex Lugduno, ibid. decemb. 1558); and Catherine de' Médici (ex Mirebello, calendid octobris, 1558). The author (ca. 1495–1560), son of the physician Sébastien de Monteux, received his doctorate in medicine at Montpellier in 1518, and practiced at Lyon. He became physician to Henri II and François II, and perhaps by royal favor purchased in 1540 the seigneurie of Miribel from the brother of Diane de Poitiers.
The binding is superb, and it is possible (albeit unlikely) that it may have been executed for presentation to the Cardinal de Lorraine, or one of the other dedicatees, but not delivered. Someone—presumably the author or the printer—corrected the first dedication, inserting by hand a missing word. Apart from a price entered with the date 1716 on the lower endpaper, the earliest evidence of ownership is a brief nineteenth-century comment referencing a medical term used in the text written on another endpaper. This note is possibly in the hand of Humbert Mollière (1845–1898), physician and member of the Société des bibliophiles lyonnais, who is recorded as possessing a copy in “veau frappé et dore, dentelle et ornements sur les plats, dos orné, tranches dorées et ciselées, grand papier” (Terrebasse, La Vie et les oeuvres de Jérôme de Monteux [Lyon, 1889], p. 85, & Le docteur Humbert Mollière: sa vie et ses oeuvres [Lyon, 1899], p. 20).
3 parts, 4to (230 x 150 mm). Roman type, 38 lines plus headline. collation: A–B4 a–x4 AA4 aa–kk4 AAA4 aaa–bbb4 ccc6: 154 leaves (x4 & kk4 blank). Arabesque title-border with grotesque heads by Jean de Tournes repeated at the head of each of the 3 parts, full-page woodcut of the author’s arms repeated on the last leaf of the preliminaries of each part, head- and tailpieces, 9-line criblé and other woodcut initials. (Some faint dampstaining at upper margin.)
binding: French (Lyon?) tan calf (235 x 160 mm), ca. 1558, richly gilt, outer frame of wide roll, central panel with large arabesque corner-pieces, central arabesque lozenge, parts painted red and green, traces of 2 pairs of silk ties, spine with 5 full and 2 half bands, gilt leaf in compartments, edges gilt and gauffered. (Extremities slightly rubbed, minor repair to joints.) Brown morocco folding-case.
provenance: possibly Charles de Guise, Cardinal de Lorraine (1525–1574), a dedicatee — purchase inscription “1 lt” dated 1716 on lower pastedown (unidentified) — possibly Humbert Mollière (nineteenth-century manuscript comment on the text on endpaper) — Librairie Louis Vénot, Lyon — Maurice Burrus (1882–1959; his acquisition label dated 1934; Christie’s Paris, 15 December 2015, lot 147). acquisition: Purchased at the Burrus sale at Christie’s through Robin Halwas.
references: FB 80124; USTC 152478; Gültlingen, IX, p. 202: 424; Cartier, de Tournes, no. 410; Mortimer, French, no. 382; Adams M-1734; European Americana 558/30
Monteux, Hierosme de. Halosis febrium, Quae omnium morborum gravissimae sunt, libri IX. Chirurgica auxilia ad aliquot affectus, qui repentinam exigunt curationem. Morbi item venerei, ac eorum, qui huic vicini sunt, curationes, πραγματεια. Lyon: Jean I de Tournes & Guillaume Gazeau, 1558
A treatise organized in three separate parts, the first devoted to pestilential fevers, including a grotesque case of hydrocephalus in a baker (Halosis febrium); the second to surgery and venereal diseases (Chirurgica auxilia); the last (De infantium febribus) to the treatment of afflictions and diseases of children, among them siriasis, and epilepsy, which is distinguished from spasms and convulsions (“mater puerorum”). Each part is independently dedicated, respectively to Charles de Guise, Cardinal de Lorraine (ex nostro castro Rivoriae, 1558); François de Lorraine, Duc de Guise (ex Lugduno, ibid. decemb. 1558); and Catherine de' Médici (ex Mirebello, calendid octobris, 1558). The author (ca. 1495–1560), son of the physician Sébastien de Monteux, received his doctorate in medicine at Montpellier in 1518, and practiced at Lyon. He became physician to Henri II and François II, and perhaps by royal favor purchased in 1540 the seigneurie of Miribel from the brother of Diane de Poitiers.
The binding is superb, and it is possible (albeit unlikely) that it may have been executed for presentation to the Cardinal de Lorraine, or one of the other dedicatees, but not delivered. Someone—presumably the author or the printer—corrected the first dedication, inserting by hand a missing word. Apart from a price entered with the date 1716 on the lower endpaper, the earliest evidence of ownership is a brief nineteenth-century comment referencing a medical term used in the text written on another endpaper. This note is possibly in the hand of Humbert Mollière (1845–1898), physician and member of the Société des bibliophiles lyonnais, who is recorded as possessing a copy in “veau frappé et dore, dentelle et ornements sur les plats, dos orné, tranches dorées et ciselées, grand papier” (Terrebasse, La Vie et les oeuvres de Jérôme de Monteux [Lyon, 1889], p. 85, & Le docteur Humbert Mollière: sa vie et ses oeuvres [Lyon, 1899], p. 20).
3 parts, 4to (230 x 150 mm). Roman type, 38 lines plus headline. collation: A–B4 a–x4 AA4 aa–kk4 AAA4 aaa–bbb4 ccc6: 154 leaves (x4 & kk4 blank). Arabesque title-border with grotesque heads by Jean de Tournes repeated at the head of each of the 3 parts, full-page woodcut of the author’s arms repeated on the last leaf of the preliminaries of each part, head- and tailpieces, 9-line criblé and other woodcut initials. (Some faint dampstaining at upper margin.)
binding: French (Lyon?) tan calf (235 x 160 mm), ca. 1558, richly gilt, outer frame of wide roll, central panel with large arabesque corner-pieces, central arabesque lozenge, parts painted red and green, traces of 2 pairs of silk ties, spine with 5 full and 2 half bands, gilt leaf in compartments, edges gilt and gauffered. (Extremities slightly rubbed, minor repair to joints.) Brown morocco folding-case.
provenance: possibly Charles de Guise, Cardinal de Lorraine (1525–1574), a dedicatee — purchase inscription “1 lt” dated 1716 on lower pastedown (unidentified) — possibly Humbert Mollière (nineteenth-century manuscript comment on the text on endpaper) — Librairie Louis Vénot, Lyon — Maurice Burrus (1882–1959; his acquisition label dated 1934; Christie’s Paris, 15 December 2015, lot 147). acquisition: Purchased at the Burrus sale at Christie’s through Robin Halwas.
references: FB 80124; USTC 152478; Gültlingen, IX, p. 202: 424; Cartier, de Tournes, no. 410; Mortimer, French, no. 382; Adams M-1734; European Americana 558/30
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