With the original silk laces preserved

FERNEL, Jean Francoise / ESTIENNE, Charles.

De vacuandi ratione liber / De nutrimentis, ad Baillyum, libri tres.

Paris: Christian Wechel / Robert Estienne, 1545.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #003758

De vacuandi ratione liber. Paris: Christian Wechel, 1545. 8vo (168 x 101 mm). 141, [3] pp. Title-page with woodcut printer's device, repeated on final unnumbered leaf verso (recto blank); woodcut initials. Signatures: A-I⁸. Leaf H6 with small hole in blank fore-margin; a few text annotations. [Bound with II:] ESTIENNE, Charles. De nutrimentis, ad Baillyum, libri tres. Paris: Robert Estienne, 1550. 8vo (168 x 101 mm). 156, [20] pp. Woodcut printer's device on title-page, woodcut initials, general index bound at end. Signatures: A-L⁸. One page with text corrections in ink. Bound in near contemporary richly blind-tooled vellum, spine with 3 raised bands ink-lettered in compartments, original cloth laces fully preserved, original endpapers (vellum over board- and spine edges partially chipped with larger patch on lower rear board gone, corners bumped, worming to lower corner of upper board). The text crisp and bright throughout with only very minor occasional spotting. ----

I. Sherrington 8 E1, NLM/Durling 1482; Wellcome I, 2194 (later edition only); not in Norman and Waller. EXCEPTIONALLY RARE FIRST EDITION in which Fernel denounces the bad use of bloodletting by the doctors of the time. "In this short monograph on bloodletting, Fernel recommended moderation. Venesection was preferably performed during 'favorable' phases of the moon. Since it clearly determined ocean tides on earth, so the moon was believed to influence the course of human illnesses. However, during his astronomy studies, Fernel found no such correlation and later cautioned against predictive astrology in medicine" (C.T. Ambrose, A letter about Jean Fernel by Charles Sherrington and the mind-brain connection. In: Journal of Medical Biography, 2022, 30(2), pp.72-81). "From 1554 onwards the De vacuandi ratione appeared incorporated in the Medicina and Universa medicina as book II of the 'Therapeutics'" (Sherrington, Endeavour of Jean Fernel, p. 191). OCLC and USTC locate 9 public libraries (Amsterdam, Glasgow, Göttingen, Paris (3x), Ostera Vetere, Yale Univ. and Warsaw) holding copies of the first edition. No copy in Wellcome library and only one in the US.
II. NLM/Durling 1394; Simon, Bacchiara, II, 72; Simon, BB ii, 230; Vicaire 344; Renouard, Estienne, p.76. RARE FIRST EDITION of a work by Charles Estienne on nutrition and diet. One of the most important chapters entitled 'Vinum', deals at length with all sorts of wines, both ancient and modern - in the sixteenth century - from European and African vineyards. Bailly was president of the Chambre des Comptes. Charles Estienne (1504-1562) was the brother of the Parisian printer Robert Estienne I. (1551-1559), "the most outstanding figure in the Renaissance booktrade in France" (Barker 45). "In November 1550 Estienne brought out a treatise on diet and a classification of foods, dedicated to the inquisitor Guillaume de Bailly. (This dedication is more easily understood in light of the dangers that threatened the Estienne publishing house; earlier that year Robert, accused of Protestantism, had been obliged to seek refuge in Geneva.) Charles Estienne then gave up his medical practice in order to manage the family business" (DSB IV, p.412). The book is rare. USTC locates 23 copies in public libraries (13 in France, 3 in Germany, 3 in the UK, and single copies in Austria, Ireland, Spain, and the USA).
"Edition originale de ce tres interessant traite. L'un des premiers et des plus importants chapitres est intitule 'Vinum', et traite longuement des differentes sortes de vins, anciens et modernes, d'Europe et d'Afrique" (Simon). "On trouve mentionnees toutes les differentes especes de pain, de biere, de boissons, de fromages, de viandes, de condiments, de poissons, de patisseries, etc." (Vicaire). - Visit our website to see more images!

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