Luminare maius quondam elaboratissimis, Joannis Jacobi Manlii Alexandrini, commentario, & Nicolai Mutoni Mediolanensis appendicibus, locuples nunc vero etiam luculentissima; Jani Matthaei Durastantis Sanctoiustani expositione locupletius adeo redditum; Connexa praeterea sunt, tam Lumen apothecariorum, quam Thesaurus aromatariorum, cum dilucidissimis, illud Quirici Augusti, hic Pauli Suardi; commentariolis. His demum accessere et copiosissimi quatuor indices, primus ac secundus, in Luminare, tertius in Lumen, ultimus in Thesaurum [.].

Folio. (36), 172, (10), 173-213, (1 blank) ff. Only preserving the front board in contemporary sheepskin parchment. First edition to be edited by Durastante, with commentary by Nicolai Mutoni, of three important late 15th-century treatises on pharmacology and medical botany. The first work, Luminare maius by Giovanni Giacomo Manlio di Bosco (fl. 1490-post 1500), is a commentary on ancient Arabic and Greek pharmacological works, especially the Arabic treatises of Yuhanna Ibn Masawayh known in the West as Mesue the elder (ca. 777-857). It gives instructions for preparing numerous medicines, indicating the quantities of the ingredients and describing each ingredient. The second work, Lumen apothecariorum by Quirico de Augustis de Tortona of Milan (fl. 1486-97), complements it with descriptions of hundreds of medicinal preparations, including many oils and syrups. The third work, Thesaurus aromatariorum by Paulus de Suardis (fl. 1479-81), gives recipes for about 500 aromatic medicines, oils, syrups, etc. The three together formed what was probably the most extensive pharmacological encyclopaedia of its day. - Title-page slightly browned, with some wormholing, a few leaves with some minor water stains, the last quire nearly detached and only preserving the front board, but most of the text still good. - Durling 2943. ICCU 005328. USTC 840129.