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Medical handbook compiled for Maurits of Nassau, Prince of Orange

[BONTIUS, Reinier? and others].
Vorstelick geschenk, dat is, een medecynboeck, inhoudende vele geproefde ende goet gevonden medecijnstucken, ...
Amsterdam, Johannes van Ravesteyn, 1662. 8vo. With Van Ravesteyns woodcut device on the title-page and 1 woodcut decorated initial. Set in textura types with incidental roman and italic. Contemporary(?) vellum, manuscript title on spine. “206” [= 208], [8] pp.
€ 600
Fourth(?) edition of a very rare anonymous medical guide with 639 numbered entries, most of them discussing a particular ailment and recommending a medicine and/or other treatment. At the end is an alphabetical index of the ailments. The earliest edition known, Vorstelijck gheschenck, dat is: een medecyn-boeck, Amsterdam, Hendrick Barentsz., 1621, matches the present edition almost word for word, with the same 639 numbered entries. The 1621 edition says it was translated from the German into Dutch and improved for this second edition, but neither an earlier Dutch edition nor a German edition has been located. One must wonder if it was mistakenly associated with Carel Batens Dutch translation of Christoph Wirsungs 1572 Ein newes artzney buech, which appeared as Medecyn boec, Dordrecht, 1589. Wirsung went through several Dutch editions before and after 1621, its structure and arrangement are completely different, with 9 parts containing about 126 chapters subdivided into hundreds of sections, and we find little relation between the texts of the two works. After 1621 the present work appeared as Vorstelijck gheschenck in 1628 and 1631 (the former also issued as an appendix to an undated edition of Wirsung: called the sixth, but not identical to the sixth edition of 1624). All editions are rare.
The Dutch title can be translated as "Princely gift, or: A medicine book". The title suggests that the printed book is the Prince of Oranges gift to the people. The printers note to reader in 1621 says that "treffelijcke ende hoochgheleerde mannen" (respected professors) provided these recipes for the noble houses of the Princes of Nassau.
With the corner of one leaf burnt off, affecting a few words of text, and ink marks or dirt on an occasional leaf, but otherwise in good condition, with only an occasional minor marginal defect. The binding is rather dirty, with a small chip at the head of the spine and the sewing somewhat loose. A rare and detailed practical medical handbook, especially interesting as a window into medical practices in the household of the Dutch Princes of Orange. BMN I, p. 377; Krivatsy 12484; KVK & WorldCat (2 copies); Picarta (2 copies); STCN (2 copies); A.J.J. van de Velde, "Zuid- en Noord-Ned. Bibliographie over natuur- en geneeskunde tot 1800", in: Verslagen ... Kon. Acad. v. Taal- en Letterkunde I (1937), pp. 255-300, at p. 281; Waller 595.
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Low countries  >  Medicine & Pharmacy
Medicine & pharmacy  >  Medicine & Pharmacy pre 1700