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1. The Method of Medicine
- Description:
- Abstract: This book is a compendium of medical works, printed in Basel in 1541 by the shop of Heinrich Petri (1508–79), also known by his Latinized name Henricus Petrus. It includes the Latin translation of the 30th chapter of the celebrated al-Taṣrīf li man ‘ajiza al-ta’līf (The arrangement of [medical knowledge] for one who is unable to compile [a manual for himself]) by the important Andalusian physician Abū al-Qāsim ibn al-‘Abbās al-Zahrawī. The book also contains a four-part work concerning the treatment of wounds and lesions by Rolandus Parmensis (flourished early 13th century); a work on surgery by Rolandus’s teacher, the celebrated Ruggero Frugardo (circa 1140–95); three short works by Constantinus Africanus (circa 1020-87), De humana natura, De elephantia, and De animalibus; and De purgationibus by the Paduan physician Antonius Gazius (1449–1528). Not much is known about the life of al-Zahrawī, whose name indicates that he was born in Madinat al-Zahrā, near Cordoba. According to the earliest sources he died in al-Andalus after 1009. Later biographers state that al-Zahrawī worked at the Andalusian courts of ʻAbd al-Raḥmān III, Caliph of Cordoba (reigned 912–61); Ḥakam II, Caliph of Spain (reigned 961–76); or Manṣūr ibn Abī ʻĀmir, de facto ruler of al-Andalus 978–1002. Al-Zahrawī’s only surviving work is the enormous al-Taṣrīf, written in 30 chapters. Chapters one (on general principles), two (on the symptoms and treatments of diseases), and 30 (on surgery) form almost half the work. Al-Zahrawī relied on earlier sources (Paulus of Aegina, Ibn Māsawayh, Sābūr ibn Sahl, Isḥāq ibn ‘Imrān, Qustā ibn Lūqā, al-Rāzī, Ibn al-Jazzār, and others), but he also drew upon his own experience as a practicing physician. Al-Taṣrīf enjoyed considerable fame in the Islamic world and in Europe. The first and second chapters were translated in the mid-13th century into Hebrew and subsequently into Latin, and appeared in Augsburg in 1519 under the title of Liber theoricae nec non practicae Alsaharavii. The 28th chapter, on “the improvement of medicines, the burning of mineral stones and the medical uses thereof,” was translated into Hebrew and thence into Latin at the end of the 13th century under the title Liber Servitoris and first printed in 1471 by Nicolas Jenson. The chapter on surgery contained in this text was the first comprehensive and illustrated treatment of its subject. The author’s expressed purpose was to revive the art of surgery as taught by the “ancients,” the surgeons of the Hellenistic tradition. This chapter was translated into Latin at Toledo by Gerard of Cremona under the title of Liber Alsaharavi de cirurgia. It was first printed in Venice in 1497; later editions followed in 1499, 1500, 1520, 1532, and 1540.Physical description: 360 pages : vellum, with woodcut illustrations ; 29 centimeters
2. Three Books on the Soul
- Description:
- Abstract: Muhammad ibn Ahmed ibn Rushd (also known by the Latinized version of his name, Averroes, 1126–98) was a Muslim jurist, physician, and philosopher from Cordoba, Spain, best known in the West for reintroducing Aristotle to Europe and in the East for his medical works. He studied theology, law, and medicine, and wrote important works in all of these fields. He served as the religious judge of Seville in 1169–72 and as the chief judge of Cordoba in 1172–82. In 1169, Ibn Rushd began writing a series of commentaries on Aristotle, whose works he probably read in Arabic and Syriac translations from the original Greek. Over a period of nearly three decades, he produced commentaries on nearly all of Aristotle’s writings. His method was to produce short, medium, and long commentaries on the same work, aimed at readers with different levels of understanding. Largely forgotten in the Latin West since the sixth century, Aristotle underwent a revival in the 12th and 13th centuries, when his works were translated into Latin and studied by Christian and Jewish philosophers and theologians such as Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) and Maimonides (1135–1204). From then until the 17th century, European scholars read Aristotle in editions that included commentaries by Ibn Rushd and a school of thought known as Averroism flourished in leading universities. Presented here is a 1521 edition of Ibn Rushd’s commentary on De Anima (On the soul) published in Pavia, Italy. Also included is Theiser (Facilitation of treatment) by Seville physician Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik Ibn Zuhr (also called Avenzoar, 1090–1162) and a commentary on Averroes (Ibn Rushd) by Marco Antonio Zimara (1460–1523), an Italian Aristotelian who edited the works of Aristotle, Averroes, and other philosophers.Physical description: 80 pages ; 29 centimeters
3. Lamp of Kings
- Description:
- Abstract: Sirāj al-mulūk (Lamp of kings) is by Muḥammad ibn al-Walīd al-Ṭurṭūshī, a Maliki imam also known as Ibn Abū Zandaqa. Al-Ṭarṭūshī was born in Tortosa in Catalonia (in what was then al-Andalus, present-day Spain) in 1059 or 1060. He died in Alexandria, Egypt in 1126 or 1127. The topic of the Sirāj al-mulūk, his most famous work, is political theory. The present edition was published in 1888−89 by Maṭbaʻat al-khayrīyah in Cairo. According to Kitāb iktifā' al-qanūʻ bimā huwa matbuʻ min ashhar al-ta'ālīf al-arabīya fī al-maṭābiʻ al-sharqīya wa al-gharbīya (Contentment of the seeker regarding the most famous Arabic compositions printed by Eastern and Western printing presses), a bibliographic dictionary of Arabic literature published by Edward Van Dyck in 1896, an earlier print edition of this work was made in Alexandria in 1872 or 1873. Included in the margins of this work is the text of al-Tibr al-mabsuk fī naṣā'iḥ al-mulūk (The golden ingot of advice for kings), a translation from Persian into Arabic of al-Ghazzālī's Naṣīhat al-mulūk (Advice for kings). Born in Ṭūs, Persia (present-day Iran), in 1058, al-Ghazzālī was one of the foremost intellectual luminaries of the Islamic world. However, the authorship of a fair amount of the Naṣīhat al-mulūk has been called into question on stylistic and other grounds.Physical description: 168 pages ; 28 centimeters
4. Complete Book on the Judgment of the Stars
- Description:
- Abstract: This book is a Latin translation of Ibn al-Rijāl Abū al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī al-Maghribī al-Qayrawānī’s principal scientific work, Kitāb al-bāriʻ fī aḥkām al-nujūm (Complete book on the judgment of the stars). Known in the Latin West as Haly Abenragel, or Haly Albohazen, Ibn al-Rijāl was the astrologer and leading official at the court of the Zīrid prince Muʻizz ibn Bādīs (1007 or 1008–62) at Qayrawān (present-day Kairouan, Tunisia). Kitāb al-bāriʻ consists of eight books covering several different types of astrology. These include interrogations, nativities, the discussions of the signs and their natures, and the qualities of the planets. This book was first translated into Old Castilian by Yehudā ben Moshe at the court of Alfonso X, in Toledo, in 1254. The Old Castilian version of this work was translated twice into Latin (and thence into Hebrew) as well as Old Portuguese. The first Latin translation was that of Aegidius de Tebaldis, aided by Petrus de Regio, in 1256. Through its translations from Arabic into various European languages (including French, English, and Portuguese) Kitāb al-bāriʻ had a considerable influence on astrology in Europe. The edition presented here was printed by the shop of Heinrich Petri (1508–79, also known by his Latinized name Henricus Petrus) in Basel in 1551. The translator, Antonius Stupanus, dedicates the work to the bishop of Rhaetia Alta, and complains about the quality of earlier translations.Physical description: 432 pages ; 33 centimeters
5. Complete Book on the Judgment of the Stars
- Description:
- Abstract: Abu al-Hassan Ali Ibn Ali Ibn Abi al-Rijal (also known as Haly or Hali, and by the Latinized versions of his name, Haly Albohazen and Haly Abenragel) was a late 10th-century–early 11th century Arab astrologer and astronomer who served as court astrologer in the palace of the Tunisian prince, al-Muizz Ibn Badis. His best known treatise, Kitāb al-bāri' fi ahkām an-nujūm (Complete book on the judgment of the stars), was one of the works translated by the team of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim scholars that King Alfonso X of Castile (reigned 1252–84) assembled in Toledo to translate works of Arabic science into Latin and Castilian Spanish. A manuscript copy containing five of the eight books of a translation into Old Castilian by Yehudā ben Moshe Cohen survives and is in the National Library of Spain. De Judiciis Astrorum (Complete book of the judgment of the stars), a Latin translation of the Old Castilian manuscript, was published in Venice in 1485 and became an important source in Renaissance Europe for the understanding of medieval astrology. The printer was Erhard Ratdolt, a member of a distinguished family of artisans from Augsburg, Germany, who went to Venice around 1475 and established a successful printing business.Physical description: 1 volume; 32 centimeters. Inscription in brown on folio 2a: Caroli Calcagnini. Marginalia, trimmed, in brown.
6. Book of Simplification Concerning Therapeutics and Diet
- Description:
- Abstract: Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik Ibn Zuhr (also known by the Latinized version of his name, Avenzoar, circa 1090–1162), was the leading medical doctor in Islamic Spain. A native of Seville, he studied medicine under his father, and later went into the service of the Almoravids and Almohads. He was a friend and near contemporary of the great Arabic physician Ibn Rushd, or Averroes (1126–98). Ibn Zuhr is said to have written his most famous work, Al-Teisir Fil-Mudawat Wal-Tadbeer (Book of simplification concerning therapeutics and diet), at the suggestion of Averroes, who praised the book in his own medical encyclopedia, Al-Kulliyat (The generalities). Al-Teisir describes preparations for medicines and diets, provides clinical descriptions of diseases, and discusses surgical procedures such as tracheotomy. The original Arabic version of the text was lost, but its contents survived in Hebrew and Latin translations. This Latin edition of 1497 was edited by Hieronymus Surianus (flourished 1458–1502) and produced by the Venetian printer Otinus de Luna. The book includes a second work, a translation of Averroes’s Al-Kulliyat, generally known in the West by its Latin title Colliget.Physical description: 1 volume, 29 centimeters
7. The Four Books on Medicine by Octavius Horatianus and the Three Books by Abū Al-Qāsim, Distinguished Among All Surgeons
- Description:
- Abstract: This volume printed at the Argentorati shop in Strasbourg (present-day France) in February 1532 includes two works, the first of which is the Latin translation by Theodorus Priscianus (flourished around 400) of his own therapeutic compendium, the Euporista (Easily obtained remedies), originally written in Greek. The second work is the Latin translation of a section of the well-known Arabic medical work by Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas al-Zahrawi (also known by his Latinized name Albucasis, circa 936–1013), Al-Taṣrīf li man ‘ajiza al-ta’līf (The arrangement of [medical knowledge] for one who is unable to compile [a manual for himself]). Not much is known about either author. Theodorus Priscianus was a North African physician who was a student of Vindicianus. The Greek version of his compendium is lost. As the Euporista originally was organized in three sections, the fourth section in the Latin translation is presumably related to material in De Physicis, the only other surviving work (albeit incomplete) by Theodorus. This 1532 edition was published under the name Octavius Horatianus. Al-Zahrawī’s name indicates that he was born in Madinat al-Zahrā, near Cordoba in al-Andalus (Andalusia, or present-day Spain). According to the earliest sources he died in al-Andalus after 1009. Later biographers state that al-Zahrawī worked at the Andalusian courts of ‘Abd al-Raḥman III (ruled 912–61), al-Ḥakam II al-Mustanṣir (ruled 961–76), or al-Manṣūr bi’ llāh (de facto ruler of al-Andalus, 978–1002). Al-Zahrawī’s only surviving work is the enormous al-Taṣrīf li man ‘ajiza al-ta’līf, a work written in 30 chapters, with the first (on general principles), the second (on the symptoms and treatments of diseases), and the 30th (on surgery) forming almost half the work. Al-Taṣrīf enjoyed considerable fame in the Islamic world and in Europe. The first and second chapters were translated into Hebrew in the mid-13th century and subsequently into Latin, and were published in Augsburg in 1519 under the title of Liber theoricae nec non practicae Alsaharavii. The 28th chapter, on “the improvement of medicines, the burning of mineral stones and the medical uses thereof,” was translated into Hebrew and thence into Latin at the end of the 13th century under the title of Liber Servitoris and first printed in Venice by Nicolaus Jenson in 1471. The text presented here, the 30th chapter, on surgery, is the first comprehensive and illustrated treatment of its subject. The long chapter is divided in three sections, or books: one on cauterization; one on phlebotomy, dissection, wounds, and the extraction of arrows; and one on dislocations and bone setting. It was translated into Latin at Toledo by Gerard of Cremona under the title of Liber Alsaharavi de cirurgia and first printed in Venice in 1497, followed by later editions in 1499, 1500, 1520, 1532, and 1540.Physical description: 327 pages : illustrations ; 32 centimeters
8. Treatment for the Spirit, Refinement of Manners, and Renunciation of Vice
- Description:
- Abstract: Mudawat al-nafus wa tahdhib al-akhlaq wa al-zuhd fi-al-radha’il (Treatment for the spirit, refinement of manners, and renunciation of vice) is a collection of essays on various philosophical and ethical points by the famous Muslim thinker Ibn Hazm of Andalusia (994−1064). The author portrays the ethical life as the highest attainment of the learned man, and his personal reflections appear to be the distillation of a long life of scholarship, political activism, and eventual withdrawal from the world. In the introduction, he states that he has set down what he has learned with the passage of time during a life of study, reflection, and “avoidance of the worldly pleasures that attract most men and the accumulation of superfluous treasure, which I have roundly criticized.” The work gives practical reasons for desiring knowledge, developing the intellect, and demonstrating true affection in friendship and marriage. It closes with advice on proper conduct during classes and discussions, including polite approaches to questioning instructors and engaging in debate. Ibn Hazm lived during the tumultuous period at the end of Umayyad rule in Spain. He was tenacious in his defense of the declining dynasty and suffered imprisonment and internal banishment for his views. Despite these difficulties, he wrote prolifically, although only a small number of his works have survived. Ibn Hazm is revered as a philosopher and jurist, but he is best known to world literature for his literary masterpiece on virtuous love, Tawq al-Hamamah (The neck ring of the dove). Mudawat al-Nufus is also known by the title al-Akhlaq wa-al-sayar (Ethics and behavior). From footnoted references to al-asl (the original text), this edition appears to be based on a manuscript, which unfortunately remains unidentified. The work also contains footnotes explaining unusual words and concepts. The book was privately printed in Cairo in 1905 by Shaykh Mustafa al-Qabbani al-Dimashqi at the Nile Press.Physical description: 77 pages ; 21 centimeters