De natura, causis, et legitima curatione febris pestilentis Hieronymi Donzellini Philosophi ac Medici Veronensis, ad Josephum Valdanium Veronensem, Brixiae Medicum, epistola. In qua etiam de Theriacae natura ac viribus latius disputatur

4to (191x136 mm). [4], 18 leaves. Collation: A-E4 F2. Printer's device on the title page. Woodcut historiated initials. Later half cloth, marbled boards. On the front pastedown stamp of the University of Göttingen dated 1963 giving away the book as a duplicate; on title page later manuscript note and ownership entry “Martini Fogeli Hamburg”; on title-page verso older stamp “Ex Bibliotheca Regia Academ. Georgiae Aug.”. Title page soiled, some occasional light foxing, margins cut short.
First edition, dedicated by the author to Leonardo Mocenico.
“When Valdagno prescribed theriac to petechial typhus patients in Brescia in 1570, he was criticised by the local College of Physicians; he responded by defending the use of the medicament in a volume entitled De theriacae usu in febribus pestilentialibus (‘On the Use of Theriac in Pestilential Fevers1, Brescia, 1570). Vincenzo Calzaveglia intervened at this point to support the stance of the College, of which he was a member, maintaining that there was a difference between pestilential fever and malignant fever: theriac was useless against the latter, which was the disease afflicting Brescia at the time (his work was entitled De theriaca abusu in febribus pestilentibus [‘On the Abuse of Theriac in Malignant Fevers'], Brescia, 1570). When Donzellini entered the debate, he defended Valdagno by endorsing Galen's theories. Calzaveglia responded with a series of polemical pamphlets and an acrimonious ‘letter in Latin' (‘lettera in latino') which, alongside medical arguments, attempted to discredit his rival by criticising his track record with the Inquisition and his exile for religious reasons. The controversy dragged on for three years with further scathing publications until Donzellini and Valdagno were both banished from Brescia. Girolamo's enemies even made an attempt on his life, and he was only saved when the crowd stepped in to help, as he informed Zwinger in a letter in 1573. The repercussions of the polemic had now spread well beyond the borders of the Republic, and Donzellini was adept at finding support. One of his allies was Marsilio Cagnati, a young Veronese graduate of Padua University; in a letter written to his older friend in 1571, Cagnati described the Hippocratic manuscripts he had found in the Vatican Library and asked if he could read Donzellini's and Valdagno's books about pestilential fever. As Donzellini's enemies had failed to undermine his reputation by drawing on his unorthodox past and had botched their assassination attempt, they decided to denounce him to the Holy Office in Verona […]Girolamo Donzellini became involved in the controversy by publishing some short treatises: De natura, causis et legitima curatione febris pestilentis (‘On the Nature, Causes, and the Legitimate Treatment of Pestilential Fevers', Venice: C. Borgominieri, 1570); Libri de natura, causis et legitima curatione febris pestilentis in quibus etiam de theriacae natura ac viribus disputatur apologia per Eudoxum Philalethem edita adversus Thessali Zoili oppugnationes (‘Books on the Nature, Causes, and the Legitimate Treatment of Pestilential Fevers, which also Discuss the Apology on the Nature and Properties of Theriac by Eudoxus Philalethes Published Against the Attacks by Thessalus Zoilus', Venice: A. Bocchino, 1571; Verona: S. dalle Donne, 1575); Eudoxi Philalethis adversus calumnias et sophismata cuiusdam personati qui se Evandrophilacten nominavit apologia (‘Apology by Eudoxus Philalethes against the Calumnies and Sophism Pronounced against Evandrophilactes', Verona: S. dalle Donne, 1573)” (A. Celati, The world of Girolamo Donzellini. A network of heterodox physicians in Sixteenth-Century Venice, London-New York, 2023, pp. 148-149 and 167-168).
On this controversy, see also C.L. Redmond, Girolamo Donzellino, Medical Science and Protestantism in the Veneto, Stanford, CT, 1984, pp. 63ff.
Girolamo Donzellini, a native of Orzinuovi near Brescia, was a scion of an illustrious family of Veron