Observationum medico- chirurgicarum rariorum sylloge + 3 other works

Padua: Typis Matthaei de Cadorinis, 1664. Marchetti, Pietro de (ca. 1589-1673). Observationum medico-chirurgicarum rariorum sylloge. [16, incl. initial blank, eng. title & portrait], 188pp., 2 blank leaves at end. Fold. engraved plate. Padua: Typis Matthaei de Cadorinis, 1664. With: (2) Brunacci, Gaudenzio (1631-68). De cina cina, seu pulvere ad febres syntagma physiologicum. 150 [2, blank]pp. Venice: apud Nicolaum Pezzana, 1661. With: (3) Fehr, Johann Michael (1610-88). Anchora sacra, vel scorzonera, ad normam & formam Academiae Naturae Curiosorum elaborata. [16] 204 [12]pp. Added eng. title and 4 plates. Jena: Typis Joh. Jacobi Bauhoferi, impensis Viti Jacobi Trescher [1666?]. With: (4) Johnson, William (d. 1665). Lexicon chymicum . . . Lib. secundus [only]; part 1 not present. [24], 72 [12]pp. London: G.D. et prostant venales apud L. Sadler, 1660. Together 4 works in 1 vol., 8vo. 154 x 101 mm. Vellum c. 1664, a little soiled, remains of linen ties. Some foxing and browning, as is common in books of this period, but very good. (1) First Edition, with all blanks and the bizarre folding plate (often lacking) illustrating the tendons of the thumb. G-M 5572. Marchetti’s treatise contains 53 “valuable observations” (G-M) in surgery, including 37 on the head, sense organs and neck. Marchetti discusses cases of skull fractures and other head trauma (including that of a 7-year-old boy clawed by a bear), syphilitic disorders of the head, migraine, tumors, etc. The remaining observations deal with injuries and afflictions of the thorax, abdomen, urethra and extremities; among these is Marchetti’s case history of a man who, while trying to subdue a horse, had his thumb bitten off at the first joint and the flexor tendons torn out (illustrated in the folding plate). Following the 53 observations are three chapters on anal fistula, ulcers and fistulae of the urethra, and spina ventosa. Marchetti was born in Padua, where he seems to have spent his entire life. His writings on surgery maintained their influence for two centuries after their publication—the Nouvelle biographie générale, published in 1860, states that Marchetti’s writings “are still consulted today.” Krivatsy cites 3 other 17th-century editions including a German translation (remarkably, all of them imperfect); Blake cites a London, 1729 edition; and the NBG cites an edition printed in Naples in 1779. Krivatsy 7417 (imperfect). Norman 1436 (without folding plate). (2) First Edition. An early treatise on the medical uses of cinchona (quinine), which had been introduced to Europe in 1640. Includes the author’s experiments in curing malaria with preparations of cinchona bark in alcohol. Waring, Bibl. Therapeutica, p. 337. Krivatsy 1873. (3) First Edition. On the medical uses of scorzonera (black salsify), a plant believed to be a specific against the bites of snakes and other venomous creatures. Ferguson (Bib. Chemica I, p. 266) notes that Fehr was founder and second president of the Academia Naturae Curiosorum, and that he wrote numerous works on medical and pharmaceutical subjects. Waring, Bibl. Therapeutica, p. 676. Krivatsy 3972. (4) Second edition of the second part of Johnson’s Lexicon chymicum, first published in 1652-53. Includes a life of Paracelsus and a key to chemical / alchemical symbols. Ferguson I, p. 439. Krivatsy 6238. Wing J-857. . (Inventory #: 51923)