Giovanni Alfonso Borelli's copy of a milestone work of experimental toxicology

REDI, Francesco.

Osservazioni intorno alle vipere. [Giovanni Alfonso Borelli's copy].

Florence: All'Insegna della Stella, 1664.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #002962

4to (233 x 171 mm). [4], 5-91, [5] pp. Half-title, title printed in red and black and with engraved device of the Accademia della Crusca and woodcut printer's device on verso of L4, errata leaf at end. 18th-century half vellum over pasteboards with decorated xylographic paper covers (light soiling, a few smaller chips of paper at extremities). Text generally quite crisp and clean with little occasional spotting and faint dampstaining to final 3 leaves, half-title somewhat dust-soiled. Provenance: Giovanni Alfonso Borelli (inscribed "Biblioteca Scholaris Piarum S. Pantaleonis" and signed "Ex libri Jo. Alphonsi Borelli" on title-page*). A fine, wide-margined copy with important provenance. ----

Norman 1810; Garrison-Morton 102; Osler 3774. FIRST EDITION OF THE AUTHOR'S FIRST PUBLICATION. 'THIS FIRST METHODICAL STUDY OF SNAKE VENOM MARKS THE BEGINNING OF EXPERIMENTAL TOXICOLOGY. Redi determined experimentally that, contrary to popular belief, a viper's venom has nothing to do with its bile but was manufactured in two glands and stored in the sheaths concealing the snake's fangs. He studied the effects of snake poison, discovering that it was effective only if injected into the bloodstream, and recommended making a tight ligature above the wound in cases of snakebite to prevent the poison from flowing to the heart' (Norman 1810). * We have compared our copy with a copy at the Lilly Library of Benedetto Castelli's Della misura dell'acque, which is almost identically inscribed by Borelli (see www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/anatomia/mech/castelli.html). - Visit our website for additional images and information.

Price: 8,500 €  *  convert currency