Paulus Aegineta, Opera, Venice, Federico Torresano, 1553, late nineteenth-century calf

Paulus Aegineta. Pauli Aeginetae medici Opera. A Ioanne Guinterio Andernaco medico exercitatissimo summique iudicii conuersa, & illustrata commentariis. Adiectae sunt annotationes Iacobi Goupyli medici Parisiensis, in aliquot singulorum librorum capita. Ioanne Baptista Camotio philosopho nouissime corrigente, cum quibusdam scolijs in margine positis. Venice: Federico Torresano, 1553

The translation from Greek into Latin by Johann Winter von Andernach (1505-1574) of Paul of Aegina’s encyclopedia of ancient medicine in seven books. It was first printed in 1532, with the text based on the Aldine editio princeps (1528), then thoroughly revised by Winter using Hieronymus Gemusaeus's edition of the Greek text (1538), and printed with a commentary at Strassburg in 1542.

The Aldine editor, Giovanni Battista Camozzi, has collated Winter’s revised translation with the Greek text, reprinted Winter’s Commentaria, added the scholia of Jacques Goupyl (Lyon 1551), and contributed his own marginal scholia. Camozzi’s dedication is to the anatomist Carlo Ruini of Bologna.

Josephus-Ignatius Guillotin, once-owner of the present copy, advocated for the use of the guillotine during the French Revolution. A surgeon himself, Guillotin was opposed to the death penalty, but he argued that it offered a less painful mode of execution. The renowned French bibliographer, Georges Vicaire, who acquired this copy in the later part of the nineteenth century, placed the edition in his Bibliographie Gastronomique, due to its treatment of diet.

8vo (153 x 100 mm). Greek and Roman type, 41 lines plus headline. collation: *⁸ aa-bb⁸ cc¹⁰ A-Z⁸ Aa-Nn⁸ a-m⁸ (Nn8 a blank): 418 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-page and final verso, woodcut historiated initials, instances of early marginalia. (Scattered staining, foxing, and browning.)

binding: Late nineteenth-century calf (160 x 113 mm), in the style of mid-16^th century French binding, covers with multiple bind rules, gilt fleuron at corners and center, spine with raised bands in six compartments, gilt device to each, edges speckled red, brown, and blue. (Slight rubbing to joints.)

provenance: Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738-1814), inscription dated 1764 on endleaf — Georges Vicaire (1853-1921), ex libris dated 1888 — Kilian Fritsch, 20^th century ex libris — Étude Loudmer & Gérald Oberlé, Une bibliothèque bachique; collection Kilian Fritsch, Paris, 20 February 1993, lot 34. acquisition: Purchased from Sokol Books Ltd, London, 1999. references: UCLA 1040; Renouard 156/8; Edit16 34792; USTC 847110