De re medica libri tres, Jacobo Sylvio interprete.

8vo. (16), 421, (1) pp., final blank leaf. With woodcut printer's device to title-page and numerous woodcut initials. 19th century marbled boards. Fine, widely received Lyonnaise edition of Mesue's pharmaceutical handbook, translated into Latin by Jacques Dubois, the teacher of Vesalius. The author's frequently reprinted treatises bore an immense influence on the development of pharmacy in early modern Europe. Although the identity of Masawaih (Mesue) remains unclear, he was likely a Persian Christian physician who headed the Baghdad hospital and served as personal physician to several caliphs (though he may also be a collective pseudonym of several Arabic medical writers of the 10th and 11th centuries). Products of the medieval Islamic world, the works attached to his name contained many innovations that provided the basis for the theory and practice of pharmacy for centuries and perfectly met the demands of the developing medical marketplace of medieval Europe. - Occasional browning; an irregular paper flaw to the upper edge of the title with slight loss to author's name (apparently removing a contemporary ownership). Binding rubbed; spine professionally repaired. Provenance: 1) an illegible ink ownership, dated 1636, stricken out on front pastedown; 2) another illegible ink ownership, dated 21 August 1818, on lower pastedown; 3) 19th century ink ownership of Arthur Rénaux to front pastedown. - Durling 3144. Wellcome 4280. Brunet III, 1675. Not in BM-STC French. Cf. GAL I, 232; S I, 416. Hirsch I, 171f.