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Medicina catholica, seu mysticum artis medicandi sacrarium. [Tomus I, tractatus I] / Sophiae cum moria certamen, in quo: lapis Lydius a falso structore, Fr. Marino Mersenno . . . reprobatus, examinat. Two parts in two volumes. Frankfurt am Main: C. Rötel for W. Fitzner, 1629. Folio (313 x 194 mm). [20], 241 [1]; [6], 118, [2] pp., including engraved printer's device on first title, 24 engraved illustrations in text (22 in first and 2 in second part, some full-page), woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. Bound without the two initial blanks, the Sophiae as often without the table (found bound in between p.18 and 19). Signatures: §² )(? 2):(? A-2H?, a-p? Modern bindings re-using antiphonary manuscript on vellum with finely painted Fleuronné initials as cover material, modern endpapers. The paper somewhat browned as usual due to inferior paper stock used, repaired clean tear to first title, A1 with minor fraying of fore-edge. Provenance: inscribed on first title "ad usum P. Palladii". A very good copy. [Joined:] FLUDD, Robert. [Medicina Catholica]. I. Integrum morborum mysterium: sive Medicinae catholicae tomi primi tractatus secundus, in sectiones distributus duas; quorum prior generalem morborum naturam. . . II. Katholicon medicorum katoptron. . . III. Pulsus seu nova et arcana pulsuum historia. Frankfurt am Main: Wolfgang Hofmann for Wilhelm Fitzer, 1631. Three parts in one volume. Folio (311 x 205 mm). [26], 1-105 (i.e. 100), 111-503 [1]; [2] 3-93 [1]; [4], 413 (i.e. 407) [1] pp. Each part has separate title page with large engraved vignette. First part with portrait of the author on verso of title; folding engraved plate bound after p.180. Part III with engraved plate bound after p. 8 and folding woodcut plate bound after p. 406; leaf g1 (p. 49/50) folded and with full-page engraving on verso; large folding table made of 3 sections bound at end. Woodcut initials, head- and tailpiece; several engraved and woodcut illustrations and diagrams in text. Signatures: ):(6 )(8 (-)(8), A-3R4 (-O1-3); AA-MM4 (-MM4); [par]2 a-3e4. Pagination 101-104 in part I and 353-358 in part III omitted; 3 leaves O1-3 (pp. 105-110) in part I lacking (never bound in), also bound without blank leaves )(8 and MM4. 18th-century simple cardboard (heavily rubbed and scuffed). Pages and plates with light even browning, occasional minor spotting; small burn hole in leaf Zz1 of part I affecting few letters; worming to lower blank margin of two gatherings 3B-C; first title page dust soiled, frayed at head and damaged at gutter; blank upper corner of subsequent clipped, this also creased at gutter. Despite the missing 3 text leaves a much better than average copy internally. ---- RARE FIRST EDITION of the complete set of Fludd's Medicina Catholica, the most comprehensive, 1400+ page compendium of occult medicine of the 17th-century, incorporating the other sciences in the manner customary at the time. In 1629 and 1631, Fludd had his four treatises on medicine printed, which constituted the first and only volume (the publication of the second was aborted) of the Medicina catholica: 1. Medicina catholica, Sanitatis mysterium (1629), 2. Pulsus (1631?), 3. Integrum morborum mysterium (1631), 4. Katholicon medicorum katoptron (1631). In these works, Fludd evokes the vital role of the sun and its central place within the universe, and insists at length on the parallel between the solar star and the human heart. According to him, the movement of blood in the human body mimics that of the sun in the macrocosm. He exposes his mystical theories on blood circulation in his treatise Anatomiae amphitheatrum, which prefigure the experiments of William Harvey published in 1628 in De Motu cordis. A few years later, Fludd published his Pulsus and became the first to ardently defend his colleague's ideas: Fludd was trained anatomist and had watched Harvey carry out dissections at the Royal College of Physicians. In his later writings he referred to those diss. Seller Inventory # 003811
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