ALBERTUS MAGNUS, ( c.1200-1280)

Parva naturalia [A1r] Tabula tractatuum parvorum naturalium Alberti Magni Episcopi Ratispon. de ordine predicatorum. De sensu et sensato. De memoria et reminiscentia. De somno et vigilia. De motibus animalium. De erate sive de inventute & senectute. De spiritu et respiratione. De morte et vita. De nutrimento et nutribili. De natura et origine anime. De unitate intellectus contra Averroem. De intellectu et intelligibili. De natura locorum. De causis et proprietatibus elementorum. De passionibus aeris. De Vegetabilibus et plantis. De principiis motus processivi. De causis et processu univers...

      Venice: heirs of Octavianus Scotus, 1517. Folio: A6, a--z8, [et]8, [con]8, [rum]8, aa-bb8, cc10(blank cc10), 240 leaves, ff. [6] 233 [1 blank]. Gothic letter in double columns, 3 sizes of woodcut initials, woodcut printer's device on cc9v. Leaf size and condition: 312 x 210mm. Portion of lower margin of A1 restored, a few leaves browned, light brown waterstains in upper and lower corners, the lower one into the text and the paper slightly limp due to loss of size. Binding: Recent half vellum. Provenance and annotation: About 300 words of annotation in at least two hands, longer notes on ff. 55v, 56r, 132r, 156r on one hand and several annotations on ff. 63--65 in another hand. Walter Pagel (1896--1983); B. E. J. Pagel (1930--2007). References: EDIT16 CNCE 785. First edition of this collection of 18 treatises. § De vegetabilibus et plantis, first printed in this edition 'is a masterpiece for its independence of treatment, its accuracy and range of detailed description, its freedom from myth, and its innovation in systematic classification. His comparative study of plants extended to all their parts, and his digressions show a remarkable sense of morphology and ecology ... He seems to have been the first to mention spinach in Western literature, the first to note the influence of light and heat on the growth of trees, and the first to establish that sap (which he knew was carried in veins -- like blood vessels, he said, but without a pulse) is tasteless in the root and becomes flavored as it ascends.' (William A. Wallace, DSB I:101--2.)