REGIMEN SANITATIS SALERNITANUM

Das buch Regimen sanitatis genannt. Das ist wie sich der mensch halten sol das er in gesuntheit beleib

      Johann Froschauer 1 April 1495, Augsburg - Recent black polished calf, gilt triple filets to cover, spine, edges and inner dentelles gilt with slipcase 4to . Rare, early German translation of this extremely influential medical text that is believed to have originated from the school of Salerno during the Middle Ages. This edition, which is largely based on the 1490 Sorg version, first appeared in 1472 and became very popular with it going through a number of editions. However because of its popularity it was heavily used with the result that all the early editions are very rare. Goff only locates a single copy of this edition in America and that is in a private collection. All the other editions also have only one or two locations. "Authorities disagree even as to the approximate date of the original composition of this poem, but a date near 1100 would probably not be far wide of the mark, although it seems not to have been widely known until the middle of the thirteenth century. It is believed to have emanated from the school of Salerno; at least, that school's chief claim to popular fame rests with this long didactic poem which sums up most of the practical medical literature up to its time. The work itself is actually a catch-all of advice and instruction on how to preserve health, rules of hygiene and diet, simple therapeutics, and other instruction intended more for the laity than for the medical profession. It was committed to memory by thousands of physicians and, after the invention of printing, was published in nearly three hundred editions, in Latin as well as in several vernacular languages. Numerous variations and additional verses which accrued through the years have doubtless obscured the original state of the Regimen, but this collective effort remains one of the most revealing medical works of the Middle Ages" (Heirs of Hippocrates no. 75; Latin Strasbourg edition of 1491) 72 leaves. Gothic type; large woodcut initials. A fine copy that has been expertly cleaned with several, almost invisible, repairs to the inner blank margins of the first few leaves (never touching or affecting any text). A very attractive, wide margined copy. § Hain-Copinger 13.746; GW M37279; Proctor 1818; BMC II, 395; Goff R-53 (1 copy only); Klebs 828.10. [Attributes: Hard Cover]