17th-century edition of the first important work on the history of Egyptian medicine, by Prospero Alpino, first published in 1591, with the second edition of Jacob de Bondts study of medicine in the East Indies, first published (separately) in 1642, both in the original Latin. Alpino (1553-1617) was an Italian physician and botanist who spent three years in Egypt studying botany and hygiene as a companion to the Venetian Consul Giorgio Emo. His present work is considered "one of the earliest European studies of non-western medicine" (Norman Lib.). Jacob de Bondt (1592-1631), whose work on East Indian medicine is included, was a Dutch physician and botanist. He spent the last four years of his life in the Dutch East Indies, and his book incorporates the experience he gained there. It is the first Dutch work [NB: by a Dutch author and first published in the Netherlands, but in Latin] on tropical medicine and includes the first modern descriptions of beri-beri and cholera" (Garrison & Morton 2263, citing the 1642 first edition).
Binding with slight brown stains in places. Small tear in 3rd leaf, not affecting text; occasional browning. Caillet 230; Krivatsy 236; Wellcome II, 36; Hirsch/Hübotter I, 101 & 627; Hunt Lib. 161 (note); Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 32; Osler 1796; USTC 6035345; Waller 12509; cf. Garrison & Morton 6468; Heirs of Hypocrates 384 & 463 (1646 & 1642 eds.); Norman Lib. 39 (1591 ed.).