Milestones of Science Books

GREGORIUS A VULPE (editor).

Articella, seu, Opus artis medicinae.

Venice: Bonetus Locatellus, for Octavianus Scotus, 1492.

5th Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #002561

20 December 1492. Folio (306 x 208 mm). [1], 6, [1], 136, 50, [1] leaves. Signatures: a⁸, a-r⁸, A-E⁸ F-G⁶ (-G6), lacking final blank only. Printer's device on G5v, colophon on G4r reading "Impressum Venetus per Bonetum Locatellum Bergomensem iussu & expensis nobilis viri Octaviani Scoti ciuis Modoetiensis. Anno intemerate Virginis partus 1493 tertiodecimo kalendas Januarias..." [= 20.XII.1492]. Unrubricated. Leaves r1-2 misbound after r4. 19th-century three-quarter vellum over pastepaper boards, spine titled in ink, red sprinkled edges (little soiling to boards). Internally very little browned, neat contemporary ink annotations and markings to several pages (somewhat faded and blurred), a few paper repairs to lower blank margin of leaves G3-5.

Hain 1872; Goff A1146; Klebs 116.5; GW 02682; ISTC ia01146000; USTC 999321. FIFTH EDITION. Articella was the name given to the early printed editions of a variety of medical texts, chiefly by Galen and Hippocrates, which formed the basis of lectures at the medical school of Salerno in the twelfth century and. The Articella grew around a synthetic exposition of classical Greek medicine written in Baghdad by physician and polyglot Hunayn bin Ishaq, also known as Ioannitius. His synthesis was in turn based on Galen's Ars Medica (Techne iatrike) and thus became known in Europe as Isagoge Ioannitii ad Tegni Galieni (Hunayn's Introduction to the Art of Galen).
In the mid-13th century, the emergence of formal medical education in several European universities fueled a demand for comprehensive textbooks. Instructors from the influential school of Salerno popularized the practice of binding other treatises together with their manuscript copies of the Isagogue. These included Hippocrates' Prognostics as well as his Aphorisms, Theophilus' De Urinis, Philaterus' De Pulsibus and many other classic works. The collection was very popular, alone seven editions appeared in the fifteenth century and another eight in the sexteenth century.
Content: Johannitius: Isagoge ad Tegni Galeni. Philaretus: De pulsibus; Theophilus Protospatharius: De urinis. Hippocrates: Aphorismi (commentary by Galenus; translated by Constantinus Africanus); Prognostica (commentary by Galenus); De regimine acutorum morborum (commentary by Galenus; translated by Gerardus Cremonensis); Pseudo- Hippocrates: Epidemiae, Lib. VI (commentary by Johannes Alexandrinus; translated by Simon a Cordo); Hippocrates: De natura foetus (translated by Bartholomaeus de Messana); Galenus: Liber Tegni, sive Ars medica (commentary by Hali; translated by Gerardus Cremonensis). Gentilis Fulginas: De divisione librorum Galeni. Hippocrates: Medicinae lex (translated by Arnaldus de Villa Nova); Iusiurandum (translated by Petrus Paulus Vergerius).
Proctor and GW (etc.) date 20 Dec. 1492, from the colophon 'Nonagesimotertio supra Millesimum et quadringentesimum. Terciodecimo kalendas Januarias', contrary to Proctor's customary rule (Index p.16) that in such cases the outgoing not the incoming year is intended (Sheppard). The date 20 Dec. 1492 from the colophon '1492. Tertiodecimo kalendas Januarij' is also given by GW 9089 to the Duns, Super universalia, likewise printed by Locatellus for Octavianus Scotus.

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