Merula, Giorgio

In Librum De Homine Martii Galeotti Opus…

      Venice, Johannes de Colonia & Johannes Manthen, c.1474. FIRST EDITION. 4to. 80 unnumbered ll. [b2-b10, c10, d-g8, h10, i6, l2-l8, m6]. Roman letter, some Greek. 29 lines per page, guide letters, spaces blank, lacking the two blanks. One leaf (l8) not printed, text supplied in contemp. ms., medical marginalia in the same hand throughout. Marginal soiling to first leaf, two small marginal wormholes to first four gatherings, a little foxing to some leaves. A very good, clean, wide-margined copy on thick paper in C17th mottled sheep, spine gilt in compartments. Illegible ownership inscription in lower blank portion of first leaf dated 1644, another, contemporary, at end of first part. A very attractive copy of the first edition of Merula's (c.1430-1494) elaborate philological attack on Galeotus' medical and astrological treatise, Liber de homine, published in Bologna in 1471. The present work is divided into four sections. In the first, Merula takes short statements or extracts from Galeotus, and interweaves them with his own, lengthy, commentary (he takes pains to cite and correct Galeotus' work in meticulous detail). Galeotus' work is first concerned with medicine, so Merula's criticisms-which frequently refer to Classical sources including Pliny, Demosthenes and Aristotle-discuss medical conditions and treatment, among them nasal polyps, stomach-ache, haemorrhoids (which Merula attributes to a surfeit of black choler in the veins around the groin), and glaucoma, when the eyes appear "lividi et plumbei coloris. " Merula states that Galeotus describes the condition inaccurately and confuses it with hypochyma, citing authorities to support his claims; the work is arranged systematically (discussions of other eye diseases follow). Merula takes issue with Galeotus' reading of the Classical medical authorities, criticizing his understanding of the texts, rather than his medical knowledge as such. Merula also elaborately criticises Galeotus' astrological views, which make up the second subject matter of his work, especially...