Maimonides, Aphorismi secundum doctrinam Galeni, Bologna, 1489, later vellum

From the Collection of the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary

MAIMONIDES, MOSES

Aphorismi secundum doctrinam Galeni [with other medical texts]. Bologna: Franciscus (Plato) de Benedictis for Benedictus Hectoris, 29 May 1489

Chancery quarto (201 x 150mm.), 134 and 24 leaves, 36 lines plus headline, roman type, initial spaces, later vellum, some deckle edges, a few manuscript annotations, occasional light soiling, small stain on q8-p1, marginal repairs to last two leaves

First Latin edition. The Aphorisms of Maimonides, a digest of the teachings of Galen, are in an anonymous thirteenth-century translation from the Arabic. Part II consists of Johannes Damascenus, Aphorismi; Mohammed Rhasis, De secretis in medicinis; and pseudo-Hippocrates, Capsula eburnea. This last is a brief treatise on the external signs of impending death. According to its introduction, Hippocrates asked his servants to bury with him an ivory chest in which he had placed certain medical secrets. Learning of this, Caesar ordered the tomb to be opened and the chest removed, revealing this treatise.

LITERATURE:

ISTC im00077000

PROVENANCE:

Moritz Steinschneider (1816-1907), Hebrew scholar-bibliographer; his collection presented by Jacob H. Schiff to; Jewish Theological Seminary, presentation bookplate