Ortus medicinae, id est initia physicae inaudita progressus medicinae novus, in morborum ultionem ad vitam longam [...] Editio quarta by VAN HELMONT, Jean-Baptiste - 1667

Folio. 2 parts in 1 volume. pp. [24], 487, [1], 192, [58]. Engraved title page. Latin text in two columns with decorative initials and headpieces. A few pages are mis-numbered. The "Ortus" is here bound as usual with the "Opuscula medica inaudita" (Editio sexta multo emendatior) with separate title. Pages are generally clean with occasional minor marginal spotting; the upper margin of leaf Rrr2 (in index) is neatly repaired (probably done at an early date) with some loss to running title; a few lines of early marginalia are present in the index section. Attractively bound in full dark calf with gilt spine; boards are rubbed with some bumps and blemishes; head and tail caps neatly restored; corner tips of boards carefully repaired; inner front end paper hinge strengthened. Lacking final blank ; binder's rear fly leaf not present. According to Neville this is "the definitive second Lyons edition (first, 1655…) of this outstanding work and a sumptuous example of seventeenth-century French fine printing. This is the third edition to appear in folio format and the final Lyons printing." (Neville, Historical Chemical Library). Jean-Baptiste Van Helmont (1577-1644) was a renowned Flemish physician, chemist and alchemist. He was responsible for inventing the term "gas." Lynn Thorndike claims that Van Helmont was "the most original alchemical or iatrochemical writer of the first half of the seventeenth century, in fact the most so since Paracelsus." Van Helmont's writings are an odd and creative mix of early chemistry, alchemy, medicine, magic and mysticism. The "Ortus Medicinae" was first published in 1648, four years after the author's death. The work was collected and edited by his son Franciscus Mercurius Van Helmont. The upper portion of the engraved title depicts an image of both father and son accompanied by a coat of arms. [Rosenthal, Bibliotheca Magica 433 -" Tres-bèl exemplair"; Neville I, p. 614; NLM/Krivatsy 5434 - but wrongly referring to the half-title as a general title page; Waller 4308; Garrison-Morton 665 - listing 1st edition; Ferguson I, p. 381 - see note; Thorndike VII, pp. 218-240].