Second, expanded Italian edition of De Orta's herbal describing Indian herbs and diseases. The present work is a translation of Aromatum et simplicium aliquot medicamentorum, which was first published by Plantin in 1567, the first Italian edition (1576) was only an abridged translation of the original.
Garcia de Orta (ca. 1501-1568) was a Portuguese physician of Jewish descent. In 1634, he joined the fleet of his friend captain Martim Affonso de Sousa, as his personal physician, and sailed to Goa, where he began a medical practice. After cultivating and studying the local plants for many years, he published his most famous work, Colóquias dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da India in Goa in 1563, only a few years after the printing press was first introduced there. The famous physician and botanist Carolus Clusius acquired a copy in 1564, translated it to Latin and added annotations and woodcut illustrations. This work was published by Plantin in 1567. It was lauded by scientists all throughout Europe and translated into Italian in 1576.
De Orta is considered a pioneer of tropical medicine, as he was the first European to describe Indian medicinal plants in their natural habitat. Although he was classically trained, he did not blindly rely on the works of classical physicians, like Hippocrates, Galen and Dioscorides, and instead trusted his own observations. It was because of his work that European botanists learned that tamarind did not grow on a palm tree, as was previously thought. His Colóquias, however, is mostly known for its detailed and comprehensive descriptions of tropical diseases, especially cholera. It is largely because of this that the work is still considered a classic in its genre today.
With the bookplate of Cornelius J. Hauck mounted on the front pastedown, manicules in the margins of pages 248-253 and a description from an earlier seller mounted on leaf Y7v. The parchment is slighty creased. The lower margin of the title-page has been restored, some foxing and browning throughout. With a small rust hole in page 71, with minor loss of text, but no loss of the illustration, page 161 is loose, a small tear in the margin of page 915 (=195) has been repaired, a few brown stains on page 196. Otherwise in good condition. BM STCI, p. 478; Durling 3419; Hunt 142; NLM 16th cent, 3419; Palau 99519; Sabin 57668; USTC 845532 (27 copies); Wellcome I, 4660; cf. Boxer, Two pioneers of tropical medicine: Garcia d'Orta and Nicolás Monardes, 1963.