Galenus (Claudius) [Opera], 5 vol., pagination: I. [4], 24, 181, [1 blank] ll.; 108 ff., II. [3], [1 blank], 184 ff.; 106 ff., Greek and Roman type, woodcut Aldine device on title and on verso of final leaf. III. [4], 106 ff.; 155, [1] ff., IV. [4], 113, [1 blank] ff.; 74, 6, 57, [1] ff., V. [4], 346, [6] ff., final quire AAA bound between quires Τττ and Υυυ, Greek and Roman type, woodcut Aldine device on title and on verso of final leaf of all volumes (Fletcher f4; A3c), capital spaces, all blank leaves present, vol.2 stain at top of a2 and a3, repair to b1 and in blank gutter of n1, wormhole through last several leaves slightly affecting text, 20th-century brown morocco blind-tooled in period style by Bernard Middleton, folio (314-318 x 218-224mm.), Venice, Heirs of Aldus Manutius and Andrea Torresano, April-August 1525. ⁂ Editio princeps of Galen of Pergamum, one of the 'biggest' books printed by the Aldine Press, directed by Aldus's father-in-law Andrea Torresano. It is one of the rarest of all Aldine editions, "only two or three complete sets have been sold during the past 30 years [...] It is so rare and consequentely so expensive because of the limited number of originally printed copies. Being an exceptional case for Aldus- editions, the initial print run remained the only one." (L. Perrilli, A Risky Enterprise. The Aldine Edition of Galen, p. 447). The works of Galen appeared for the first time in Latin translation in 1490 (Goff G, 37), and only a few of his writings were available in Greek, e.g. the Περὶ φιλοσόφου ἱστορίας, printed in the second volume of the Aldine Aristotle Corpus, and the Θεραπευτικά published in Venice by Zacharias Kallierges and Nicolaos Vlastos (Goff G, 38). The delay was due to the partial disappearance of the written heritage of Greek medicine, and the great difficulty in finding Greek medical manuscripts, "and then there was a gap of a generation until the Aldine firm put out a series of medical authors, Galen in 1525, Hippocrates in 1526, Paul of Aegina, and the first half (only) of Aetius in 1534" (V. Nutton, Greek Science in Sixteenth Century, p. 20). Literature: Adams G, 32; STC Italian 285; Renouard Alde, pp. 101-102; Ahmanson-Murphy, 231-233, 235-236; Cataldi Palau, 95; Finazzi, 51; PMM 33; Wellcome I, 2507; Durling 1748; Grolier-Norman, n. 5B; Hoffmann II, 122; V. Nutton, John Caius and the Manuscripts of Galen, Cambridge 1987, pp. 39-42; Ead., Greek Science in the Sixteenth-century Renaissance, in Renaissance and Revolution, ed. J.V. Field-F.A.A.J. James, Cambridge 1993, pp. 20-24; P. Potter, The editiones principes of Galen and Hippocrates and their Relationship, in Text and Tradition. Studies in Ancient Medicine and its Transmission, ed. K.D. Fischer-D. Nickel-P. Potter, Leiden 1998, pp. 243-261; V. Nutton, Ancient Medicine, London 2004, pp. 230-247.
Galenus (Claudius) [Opera], 5 vol., pagination: I. [4], 24, 181, [1 blank] ll.; 108 ff., II. [3], [1 blank], 184 ff.; 106 ff., Greek and Roman type, woodcut Aldine device on title and on verso of final leaf. III. [4], 106 ff.; 155, [1] ff., IV. [4], 113, [1 blank] ff.; 74, 6, 57, [1] ff., V. [4], 346, [6] ff., final quire AAA bound between quires Τττ and Υυυ, Greek and Roman type, woodcut Aldine device on title and on verso of final leaf of all volumes (Fletcher f4; A3c), capital spaces, all blank leaves present, vol.2 stain at top of a2 and a3, repair to b1 and in blank gutter of n1, wormhole through last several leaves slightly affecting text, 20th-century brown morocco blind-tooled in period style by Bernard Middleton, folio (314-318 x 218-224mm.), Venice, Heirs of Aldus Manutius and Andrea Torresano, April-August 1525. ⁂ Editio princeps of Galen of Pergamum, one of the 'biggest' books printed by the Aldine Press, directed by Aldus's father-in-law Andrea Torresano. It is one of the rarest of all Aldine editions, "only two or three complete sets have been sold during the past 30 years [...] It is so rare and consequentely so expensive because of the limited number of originally printed copies. Being an exceptional case for Aldus- editions, the initial print run remained the only one." (L. Perrilli, A Risky Enterprise. The Aldine Edition of Galen, p. 447). The works of Galen appeared for the first time in Latin translation in 1490 (Goff G, 37), and only a few of his writings were available in Greek, e.g. the Περὶ φιλοσόφου ἱστορίας, printed in the second volume of the Aldine Aristotle Corpus, and the Θεραπευτικά published in Venice by Zacharias Kallierges and Nicolaos Vlastos (Goff G, 38). The delay was due to the partial disappearance of the written heritage of Greek medicine, and the great difficulty in finding Greek medical manuscripts, "and then there was a gap of a generation until the Aldine firm put out a series of medical authors, Galen in 1525, Hippocrates in 1526, Paul of Aegina, and the first half (only) of Aetius in 1534" (V. Nutton, Greek Science in Sixteenth Century, p. 20). Literature: Adams G, 32; STC Italian 285; Renouard Alde, pp. 101-102; Ahmanson-Murphy, 231-233, 235-236; Cataldi Palau, 95; Finazzi, 51; PMM 33; Wellcome I, 2507; Durling 1748; Grolier-Norman, n. 5B; Hoffmann II, 122; V. Nutton, John Caius and the Manuscripts of Galen, Cambridge 1987, pp. 39-42; Ead., Greek Science in the Sixteenth-century Renaissance, in Renaissance and Revolution, ed. J.V. Field-F.A.A.J. James, Cambridge 1993, pp. 20-24; P. Potter, The editiones principes of Galen and Hippocrates and their Relationship, in Text and Tradition. Studies in Ancient Medicine and its Transmission, ed. K.D. Fischer-D. Nickel-P. Potter, Leiden 1998, pp. 243-261; V. Nutton, Ancient Medicine, London 2004, pp. 230-247.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
