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Title printed in red and black; two full-page woodcut borders, two coats-of-arms, 90 full-page woodcuts (two with five & six movable flaps, respectively), printer s device at end, all with beautiful cont. coloring and some heightened with gold ("Fürstenkolorit"). [28], 274 pp., [8] leaves. Small folio, cont. calf (joints & ends of spine repaired), ornately gilt, spine with five raised bands, gilt fillets & ornaments in compartments, center of covers with medallion depicting the staff of Asclepius, remains of green silk ties, covers with gilt arabesque & floral border, gilt gauffered edges. Dresden: M. Stöckel, 1583. First edition, a spectacular copy of the first modern work on eye surgery and one of the earliest medical books printed in German vernacular rather than the usual Latin. The illustrations and even the famous movable flaps in our copy have been lavishly colored and some heightened with gold by a contemporary colorist. The recto of leaf A2 bears the woodcut arms of the dedicatee Duke August of Saxony, under whom Bartisch (1535-1607) served as court oculist. Bartisch s work presents a comprehensive picture of Renaissance medical practices, with numerous extraordinary and boldly cut full-page illustrations, many after Bartisch s own drawings. It is the first systematic work on ocular disease and eye surgery and the first ophthalmic atlas, featuring 90 striking full-page woodcuts showing examples of operations, surgical instruments, chemical apparatus for preparing medicines, etc. Head and eye anatomy are depicted first, then strabismus, cataracts, external diseases, and examples of trauma. Injuries and defects caused by magic and witchcraft are discussed in a chapter. A few diseases are detailed here for the first time. The skilled tooling on the binding is clearly influenced by the work of Jakob Krause (1526/27-1585), a renowned Dresden bookbinder who was frequently employed by Duke August of Saxony. The present binding was probably executed by one of his talented students. Light browning throughout. Occasional minor worming in margins. ? Grolier One Hundred Books Famous in Medicine (1995) 22. Garrison & Morton, Morton s Medical Bibliography (5th ed.) 5817. Heirs of Hippocrates (3rd ed.) 369.
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