ALBERTUS MAGNUS

A collection of seven scientific works by Albertus Magnus, in folio and in a contemporary binding, all but one printed in the 1490s by the de Gregoriis brothers in Venice, as follows:

      !. De Mineralibus. 21, [1] leaves. Venice: J. & G. de Gregoriis, 22 June 1495. Goff A-281. Hoover 38. Klebs 21.3. [bound with]:!. Phisico[rum] sive de Phisico Auditu Libri Octo. 4 p.l., 124 leaves. Venice: J. & G. de Gregoriis, 31 Jan. 1494/95. Goff A-300. Hoover 34. Klebs 24.2. [bound with]:!. De Coelo et Mundo. 73, [1] leaves. Venice: J. & G. de Gregoriis, 6 July 1495. Goff A-228. Hoover 36. Klebs 15.2. [bound with]:!. [Meteoris] Liber Methaurorum. 71, [3] leaves. Venice: J. & G. de Gregoriis, 25 February 1494/95. Goff A-278. Hoover 42. Klebs 20.2. [bound with]:!. Liber de Generatione & Corruptione. 23, [1] leaves. Venice: J. & G. de Gregoriis, 10 June 1495. Goff A-245. Hoover 37. Klebs 16.1. [bound with]:!. De Anima Libri Tres. De Intellectu et Intelligibili Libri Duo. 2 p.l., 68 leaves. Venice: J. & G. de Gregoriis, 7 November 1494. Goff A-222. Hoover 35. Klebs 13.2. [bound with]:!. Thesaurus Vere Philosophie et Divine Sapientie a nonnullis de Apprehension... 61, [1] leaves. Leipzig: Wolfgang Stockel, August 1505.p A very attractive sammelband of many of the scientific works of Albertus Magnus (1200!1280), published by the de Gregoriis brothers, the majority in their second edition (although the Liber de Generatione & Corruptione is in its first edition). Proficient in all branches of science, Albertus Magnus was one of the most famous precursors of modern science in the High Middle Ages. !Albert!s principal importance for the history of modern science derives from the role he played in rediscovering Aristotle and introducing Greek and Arabic science into the universities of the Middle Ages...Albert!s early identification as a precursor of modern science undoubtedly stemmed from his empiricist methodology, which he learned from Aristotle but which he practised with a skill unsurpassed by any other Schoolman...He stated that evidence based on sense perception is the most secure and is superior to reasoning without experimentation. Similarly he noted that a conclusion that is inconsistent with the evidence cannot be believed and that a principle that does not agree with sense experience is really no principle at all.!!D.S.B., I, pp. 99-100. Particularly important is the De Mineralibus, here in its third printing (1st ed.: 1476). It is !one of the best and most comprehensive of the western medieval lapidaries, it was written about 1260...It is a compilation from earlier writers with the addition of some facts derived from the author!s own observations...Seventy stones are mentioned, arranged alphabetically, and Albertus says that gems differ from other stones in that in them the water element preponderates over the earthy constituents and he attempts to classify them by color.!!Adams, The Birth and Development of the Geological Sciences, pp. 144-45. Two further works by Albertus Magnus were printed by the de Gregoriis brothers and are not present: the Metaphysica (18 Dec. 1494) and the De Animalibus (21 May 1495), no doubt separately bound due to their extended texts and now lost. Bibliographical Details: Seven works in one volume, folio. I!VI: printed in double columns, 65 lines plus headline, gothic letter, initial spaces with guide letters, initials supplied in red with paragraph marks in blue (occasionally reversed), a few woodcuts, printer!s device at end. VII: printed in double columns in Gothic letter. Title of second work (bound-in first) is a little soiled and the first four leaves a little loose, small hole in blank margin of last leaf. Apart from these minor blemishes very fine copies, in an exceptional state of preservation. Contemporary German blind-stamped pigskin over beveled wooden boards (a little marked and soiled), brass corner pieces & clasps intact, spine lettered in manuscript. Brass bosses on sides and a chain hasp at top of lower cover removed, later red morocco label on spine. Provenance: inscription dated 1838. Booklabel of J. Baart de la Faille, medical professor of Groningen. Bookplate of Bath Public Reference Library, presented by Capt. F.H. Huth in 1903. This is an exceptional collection of six 15th-century editions (with one more book printed in 1505) in a volume wonderfully preserved in its original state. ❧ D.S.B., I, pp. 99-103.. First Edition. Hard cover.