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ABATI, Baldo Angelo.
De admirabili viperae natura, & de mirificis ejusdem facultatibus liber.
Nuremberg, Recusus, sumptibus & typis Sebastiani Heusleri, 1603.
£2250.00
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4to. pp. [xvi], 125 (i.e. 133) [xi]. Roman letter, text within printed box rule, title with woodcut printers device, within splendid engraved border in a floral design incorporating snakes, bats, moths, fish and birds, historiated and floriated woodcut initials and headand tail-pieces, typographical ornaments, 5 full page engraved plates. Insignificant light waterstain to lower margin of title, plate two fractionally shaved at top margin. A very good copy, crisp and clean, with excellent impression of the plates, in contemporary vellum over boards, spine covered with paper at an early date, lacking ties, all edges sprinkled red. Third edition of this important and beautifully illustrated monograph on all aspects of snakes and their venom, the first printed outside Italy of the first work entirely devoted to snakes. Dedicated to Francesco Maria II, the VIth Duke of Urbino, was first published in 1589, the second edition appeared in 1591, also in Urbino; Abati was the personal physician of the Duke. The engraved plates depict snakes in coition, in parturition, shedding their skin, and in two anatomical cross-sections, with one plate of antique coins, all depicting snakes. The engraver of the plates is not known, none of the plates are signed, though they were obviously made by someone of considerable skill. "A further example of the excellent art of dissection of that time is the dissection of a rattlesnake by the Italian physician Baldangelo Abati" (cf. Nissen, ZBI II, 121). All aspects of snakes are discussed from their entomology, anatomy, history, descriptions by classical authors, possible cures for snake bite, possible medical application for the venom, antidotes etc. Five of the 32 chapters are dedicated to the snakes' venom, its potency and possible medical applications. Chapters 12 and 14 are of great interest, describing the edible parts of the snake and providing information about possible ways of preparing meals with its meat, and considering the possibility of an antidote to the venom from the eating of the meat. This edition has an extensive and useful index and list of authors cited. An excellent copy of this most interesting and rare work; Abpc records only two copies of this edition at auction, none of the first two editions, with only two copies in British libraries, again none of the first two. There are very few copies outside Italian libraries.
BM STC Ger. C17, A8. Welcome 1 (first edition only). Not in Brunet, Durling, Hiers of Hippocrates, Osler, Honeyman, Vicaire, Bitting or Oberlé.
L943
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