693J Prospero Alpino, and Jacob Bondt

Prosperi Alpini De medicina Aegyptiorum libri quatuor, et Jacobi Bontii De medicina Indorum.

Parisiis : Apud Nicolaum Redelichuysen, bibliopolam Aulae Regiae sequacem …, 1645 $2,800

Quarto 22.5 X 17cm. Signatures. ã⁴, ẽ⁴, A-Z⁴ Aa-Xx⁴ Yy³ Zz⁴ Aaa-Hhh⁴, Iii². Two full page woodcuts and a few small woodcuts in the text.These woodcuts are the same as the used in the 1591 edition. Bound in full contemporary vellum rebacked .

The first important work on the history of Egyptian medicine, by Prospero Alpino, first published in 1591, with the second edition of Jacob de Bondt s study of medicine in the East Indies, first published (separately) in 1642, both in the original Latin.

Prospero Alpino, was an Italian physician and botanist who played an instrumental role in unraveling the mysteries of Egyptian medicine. Through Alpino’s meticulous study and translation of ancient Egyptian texts, many medicinal recipes and treatment methods were brought to light. His work shed new light on the contributions of prominent ancient Egyptian medical figures such as Imhotep, the world’s first known physician, and the revered sage Thoth, who was considered the god of medicine and healing.

Alpino both physician and botanist spent three years in Egypt studying botany and hygiene as a companion to the Venetian Consul Giorgio Emo.
This present work is considered :

“one of the earliest European studies of non-western medicine” (Norman Lib.).

Jacob de Bondt (1592-1631), whose work on East Indian medicine is included, was a Dutch physician and botanist. He spent the last four years of his life in the Dutch East Indies, and his book incorporates the experience he gained there. It is the first Dutch work [NB: by a Dutch author and first published in the Netherlands, but in Latin] on tropical medicine and includes the first modern descriptions of beri-beri and cholera” (Garrison & Morton 2263, citing the 1642 first edition).

Caillet 230; Krivatsy 236; Wellcome II, 36; Hirsch/Hübotter I, 101 & 627; Hunt Lib. 161 (note); Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 32; Osler 1796; USTC 6035345; Waller 12509; cf. Garrison & Morton 6468; Heirs of Hypocrates 384 & 463 (1646 & 1642 eds.); Norman Lib. 39 (1591 ed.).