ARETAEI CAPPADOCIS Medici In Signis Ac Vetustissimi Libri Septem / RUFFI EPHESII Medici Clarissimi, De Corporis Humani Partium Appellationibus Libri Tres. by ARETAEUS of Cappadocia - 1552

Venice: Giunta Press, 1552 ARETAEUS of Cappadocia (fl. ca A.D. 50). Libri septem - RUFUS of Ephesus (fl. 1st century A.D.) De corporis humani partium appellationbus libri tres. Both texts translated from Greek into Latin by Junius Paulus Crassus (ca 1500-75). Venice: Giunta Press, 1552. 4o (243 x 170 mm). 112 leaves. Roman and italic types. Printer's woodcut device on title-page and verso of last leaf, woodcut ornamental initials. (Waterstain at inner corner of upper margins.) Contemporary limp vellum (stained at top). Provenance: Princes of Liechtenstein (bookplate); Haskell F. Norman (bookplate, his sale part I, Christie's New York, 18 March, 1988, lot 16). FIRST EDITIONS. Born Cappadocia, an ancient name of a region in central Turkey, Aretaeus probably was schooled in Caesarea, after which he went to Alexandria and Rome. His writings on the causes, symptoms and cures of acute and chronic diseases are the only works of the Pneumatic school of physicians that survived. The Pneumatic School reflected Stoic influence and emphasized the physician's compassion for the patient. Aretaeus gave the first accurate account of diabetes, which he named, the first clear account of diphtheria, and the classic description of nodous leprosy. Like Aretaeus, Rufus was born in Turkey, in Ephesus. At the time Ephesus was an important medical center with a museum and an association of physicians. Rufus, who lived under the Emperor Trajan (98-117 C. E.) seems to have spent his entire active life in Ephesus, after he completed his medical studies, probably at Alexandria. Among Rufus' prolific writings was the earliest treatise on anatomical nomenclature- On the Names of the Parts of the Human Body. Rufus considered anatomy an important part of the study of medicine. He complained that he had to teach anatomy on the bodies of monkeys, even though he stated that "in ancient times anatomy was taught with more profit on the cadaver" (quoted by Prioreschi, A History of Medicine Volume III: Roman Medicine, 251). This is probably a reference to the earlier work of Herophilus of Alexandria who conducted human dissection. After Galen, who also taught human anatomy using apes, Rufus is considered the most significant Greek physician of the Roman Empire. Rufus made numerous contributions to anatomy and physiology, including an improved description of the eye, and the earliest description of the human liver as five-lobed (an error that would persist until Vesalius' time). NLM/Durling 256; Norman 62; Waller 458; Wellcome 392. VERY RARE!!! THIS IS THE ONLY COPY ON THE MARKET!! Photos available upon request.