[Rarebooks] FS: Mattioli. COMMENTAIRES (1627)

[Kaaterskill Books]

We offer for Sale:

Mattioli, Pietro Andrea. Dioscorides Pedanius, of 
Anazarbos; Du Pinet, Antoine, trans. LES 
COMMENTAIRES DE M. P. ANDRÉ MATTHIOLUS, MEDECIN 
SENOIS, SUR LES SIX LIVRES DE PEDACIUS DIOSCORIDE 
ANAZARBEEN, DE LA MATIERE MEDECINALE TRADUITS DE 
LATIN EN FRANÇOIS, PAR M. ANTOINE DU PINET: ET 
ILLUSTREZ DE NOUVEAU, D'UN BON NOMBRE DE 
FIGURES.; ET AUGMENTEZ EN PLUS DE MILLE LIEUX À 
LA DERNIÈRE ÉDITION DE L'AUTHEUR, TANT DE 
PLUSIEURS REMÈDES ET DIVERSES SORTES DE MALADIES; 
COMME AUSSI DE DISTILLATIONS ET DE LA 
COGNOISSANCE DES SIMPLES, AVEC PLUSIEURS TABLES 
FORT AMPLES, LES UNES MEDECINALES, LES AUTRES DES 
MOTS & MATIERES TRAITTÉES ESDITS COMMENTAIRES. LE 
TOUT AU PROFIT & COMMODITÉ DES AMATEURS DE LA 
MEDECINE. Lyon: Chez Claude Rigaud & Claude 
Obert, 1627. [130], 603, [31] pp. Nissen BBI, 
1312. See Pritzel: 5991.

Title in red and black ink. Illus, with large 
woodcut portrait of Mattioli facing title page 
and on final page before A1, large woodcut 
printer's device on title page, and nearly 1500 
small woodcut plant illustrations throughout. 
Folio. Half tan speckled calf over paper covered 
boards; six raised bands, six compartments 
decorated in gilt, red morocco label titled in 
gilt, edges dyed red, silk bookmark sewn in. 
Later printing. French edition of his important 
herbal, first published in the translation of 
Pinet in 1561, and running through many editions.

Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1501-1577), an Italian 
physician. "It was probably [the] success [of his 
earlier editions in Italian] that induced 
Mattioli to publish his first Latin translation 
of Dioscorides' Commentarii, in libros sex 
Pedacii Dioscoridis anazarbei, De medica materia. 
Adjectis quam plurimis plantarum et animalium 
imaginibus, eodem authore (Venice, 1554), an 
edition of broader purpose than the previous 
ones. Unlike the Italian versions, this Latin 
edition - enriched by synonyms in various 
languages, provided with a special commentary, 
and accompanied by numerous illustrations 
valuable for the reader's identification of 
Dioscorides' simples-rendered the work accessible 
to scholars throughout Europe. From then 
Mattioli's name was linked with that of 
Dioscorides. Further editions and reprints of the 
Commentarii continued practically without 
interruption until the eighteenth century. There 
were versions also in German, French, and 
Bohemian.... Fundamental to the work's success is 
its conception and execution as a practical 
scientific treatise. It was intended for daily 
use by physicians, herbalists, and others, who 
could find descriptions and notes on medicinal 
plants and herbs, Greek and Latin names and 
synonyms, and the equivalents in other languages. 
The work made it possible to identify and compare 
its plants and herbs with those mentioned by 
Dioscorides and also with those found in nature. 
The Commentarii thus differed profoundly from 
translations by other authors, who generally on 
lexical and grammatical aspects rather than on 
medical and botanical aims. Mattioli supported 
his work with new information, partly derived 
from his direct observation of plants and herbs 
and partly obtained from other authors. Many of 
the illustrations were reproductions of his own 
drawings or elaborations of drawings made by 
other authors; the rest were derived from 
original drawings placed at his disposal by other 
scholars and through direct observations of 
plants," (Complete Dictionary of Scientific 
Biography. Vol. 9. Detroit: Charles Scribner's 
Sons, 2008. p178-180). Includes the text of 
Dioscorides in French translation: "Bref discours 
de la distillation des eaux": p. 597-603.

Half title repaired, soiled and creased with 
period drawn portrait in margin, title soiled, 
both remounted along with a few other leaves, 
lacking the first two leaves of the Epistre, 
provided in facsimile, holes on two leaves 
(pp.68-9 & 70-1), with loss of a few lines of 
text and part of one small illustration, 
scattered foxing, and staining throughout. 
[35573] $750.00

Regards,

Charles Kutcher
Kaaterskill Books
P. O. Box 122
East Jewett, NY 12424
email: books at kaaterskillbooks.com
phone: 518-589-0555
www.kaaterskillbooks.com
Members ABAA/ILAB


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