Milestones of Science Books

RÖSSLIN, Eucharius [ROESSLIN].

Der Schwangerenn frawen und Hebammen Rosengarten.

Augsburg: Heinrich Steiner, 1530.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #002702

4to (190 x 143 mm). 47 unnumbered leaves, lacking final blank only. Collation: A-M4 (-M4). Title with large woodcut, several woodcut illustrations in text. Colophon on M3v: "Augsburg durch Heinrich Stayner am vi Julii. im M.D. und xxx Jar." Bound in 18th century half calf over marbled boards (corners heavily scuffed, extremities worn, boards heavily rubbed). Title page with later ink inscription at the place of an erased stamp, one repaired leaf with loss of a few letters at lower corner. Text little browned throughout and with occasional waterstaining and spotting. ----

VERY RARE EARLY EDITION of Rösslins' book on midwifery. According to COPAC with no copy in public libraries in the USA and only two copies outside Germany (Utrecht and Poland). No copy of this edition is recorded at auction in the past 50 years.
Roesslin's book is based on the manuscripts of Soranus of Ephesus who wrote in the second century AD and the c. sixth-century Moschion Codex in the Royal Library at Brussels. In all probability Roesslin got his inspiration for the illustrations of the fetus in utero from the Heidelberg Codex in the Vatican Library. Martin Flach had them cut in wood by the noted Formschneider Erhard Schön and they continued to be used by Roesslin's successors until the 18th century. The twenty woodcuts in the text present for the first time illustrations of positions of the fetus in utero, a birth chair, and twins, including Siamese twins. The figures of the fetus were derived from those found in the manuscripts by Soranus and Moschion. For almost 200 years, these woodcuts were reprinted in editions of Roesslin's work or copied in the works of later writers, including Jacques Guillemeau and Jacob Rueff.
Eucharius Roesslin was an apothecary of Freiburg im Breisgau in 1493. In 1506 he became physician to the city of Frankfurt am Main, and in 1508 he entered service at the court of Katherine. When he published the first edition of his Rosengarten, Roesslin had become town physician and a supervisor of midwives in Worms. In 1517, he returned to Frankfurt holding the post of town physician until his death in 1526. His son Eucharius the jounger, who published the first Latin translation of the Rosengarten in 1532, succeeded him as town physician of Frankfurt. (Norman, p.51). - Visit our website for additional images and information.

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