24th ILAB International Antiquarian Book Fair - Vereinigung der ...

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W. P. Watson Antiquarian Books
Rick Watson
PO Box 29745 ∙ London NW3 7ZW, Grossbritannien
Telefon +44 (0)20 74310489 ∙ Fax +44 (0)20 74310495
E-Mail: info@watsonbooks.co.uk
Wissenschaften ∙ Medizin ∙ Naturgeschichte
Bianchini, Giovanni. [Illuminated manuscript
astronomical treatise, entitled:] Tabulae de motibus
planetarum [Ferrara, ca 1475] Folio, ff [4,
blank] 150; [6, blank, original endleaves], ca 37
lines, manuscript on paper written in brown
ink in a neat humanistic hand, signed by the
scribe Francesco da Quattro Castella (near Reggio
Emilia) on f 150v, 2–3 line initials in red or
blue, large initial and coat-of-arms of the Scalomonte
family, flanked by floral decoration, all
illuminated in gold and body colours, on first
text leaf, 231 full-page tables in red and brown
ink; generally in fine condition, in its original
binding of contemporary blindstamped goatskin.
CHF 200 000.–
A fine and complete deluxe illuminated manuscript
of the astronomical tables of Giovanni Bianchini
(1410–1469), astronomer attached to the Ferrara
court of the d’Este. Bianchini was considered by
his disciple Regiomontanus to be the greatest astronomer
of his time, and his Tabulae was one of
the most sophisticated and widely disseminated fifteenth-century
attempts to improve the Alfonsine
Tables, the thirteenth-century planetary tables that
were relied upon by all astronomers and navigators
well into the sixteenth century. Bianchini’s rigorous
mathematical approach (he was the first to use
decimal fractions) made the Alfonsine Tables available
in a form that could be used by Renaissance
astronomy. ‹There can be little doubt that early in
his career Copernicus depended on Bianchini’s
tables for planetary latitudes… Hence, Bianchini’s
tables can be considered a source for Copernicus’s
knowledge of astronomy’ (Goldstein and Chabas,
Astronomical tables of Giovanni Bianchini p 573).
Fuchs, Leonhard. De Historia Stirpium commentarii
insignes. Basle, Michael Isingrin,
1542. Folio, with printer’s device on title and
last leaf, woodcut portrait of Fuchs on verso of
title, woodcut portraits of the artists, and 509
full-page woodcuts in text; a fine copy in contemporary
blindstamped pigskin over wooden
boards, contemporary ownership inscription at
foot of title crossed out. CHF 115 000.–
First edition of Fuchs’ celebrated herbal. It effected
a revolution in the natural sciences, comparable
to that of Copernicus in astronomy and Vesalius
in anatomy, both of which appeared the following
year. Adams F1099; Dibner 19; Horblit 33b; Hunt
48; Norman 846; Parkinson p 37; PMM 69; Stillwell
640
Paracelsus, Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus
Bombastus von Hohenheim. Opus chyrurgicum…
Wund und Artzney Buch. Frankfurt,
Sigmund Feyrabendr, 1565. Folio, title in red
and black with woodcut of a sickroom scene
with two surgical operations taking place (a
trepanation and an amputation), and 36 woodcuts
(from 13 different blocks) in text, 31 by Jost
Amman, each chapter with large woodcut initial;
a very attractive copy, with contemporary
annotations, in contemporary blindstamped
German pigskin. Provenance: elaborate sixteenline
Latin inscription titled ‹Aenigma L:P› on
front pastedown, initialed with a monogram
‹W.F.L.› and dated 13 May 1597; contemporary
annotations to texts, in German and Latin, in
red and blank ink, throughout. CHF 20 000.–
First illustrated edition, with woodcuts by Jost Amman,
of Paracelus’ Grosse Wundartzney, his most
important medical text. The fine Amman woodcuts,
designed for this edition, include scenes of a
hospital room, trepanation, amputation, lithotomy,
treating head wounds in a field hospital, a dissection
scene, et al. Sudhoff 69 (with a list of the woodcuts);
Durling 3470; Wellcome 4745
140 24th ILAB International Antiquarian Book Fair