ALPINI (Prospero). Prosperi Alpini de Medicina... Lot 39

ALPINI (Prospero). Prosperi Alpini de Medicina Aegyptiorum libri quatuor... Venetiis, apud F. de Franciscis, 1591. In-4, [12]-150-[25] f., figs. in 17th century marbled havana calf, spine with 5 bands, garnet coloured title, ornamented boards, red edges (corners and headpieces restored, some rubbing; soiling not severe on 2 limin, sporadic light spotting in some corners and foot margins, some russetting, small wormholes in some margins almost all restored; without the last blank page). First edition of the first important western work dealing with Egyptian medicine, a major work of the Italian physician and botanist Prospero Alpini (1553-1617), composed following his stay in Cairo from 1581 to 1584, as physician to the Venetian consul Giorgio Emo. It is illustrated with six woodcuts in the text, two of which are full-page illustrations of surgical operations. The work is also known as one of the very first to describe coffee, its preparation and its virtues, referred to as "chaoua" (fol. 122 v°). "First important work on the history of Egyptian medicine" (Garrison & Morton, 6468). (USTC 808841).