DE HISTORIA ET CAUSIS PLANTARUM,; libri IX, (translated by Theodoros Gaza, fl 1400-1475, edited by Giorgio Merula d.1494).
Treviso: Bartholomaeus Confalonerius 2 Feb, 1483. First edition, in Latin (later issued in Greek with the Aldine Aristotle editions of 1497 and 1498). Folio, 153 leaves (lacks the front blank and 2 leaves of text (supplied in clean facsimile). 28.4'x19.2 cm. Bound in later cloth backed boards, some marginal waterstaining, contemporary Italian marginalia (some trimmed close) throughout with a full page of contemporary notes on the verso of the final leaf. HC 15491; BMC VI 894; BM-Ital 668; Klebs 958.1; Garrison (1929) 12; Castiglioni (1947) 181-182; Stillwell T132; Goff T-155; Pritzel 9184;Osler 263; Stillwell, The Awakening ... 72; Procter 648; Dibner, Heralds of Science, 18; Norman 266. Rare, this had not been to auction since December of 1967 (when it sold for $75,000), until it sold for $55,200 at the Haskell Norman sale (3/18/1998). Item #16243
Stillwell notes that this is the earliest scientific botany. A study of about 5 plants described according to a rather primitive classification which held, however, until the mid-sixteenth century... Its ninth section, on the medicinal properties of plants"the earliest extant herbal, except for fragments of a Greek herbal, c. 35 B.C."is believed to have been added somewhat after Theophrastus's time. Known as the founder of scientific botany, Theophrastus was born in Lesbos and was Aristotle's most highly regarded student and succeeded Aristotle as head of the Lyceum in Athens. He was a prolific writer, yet only these two works survive as major works. His De Historia Plantarum described and classifies several hundred plants while the De Causis Plantarum is a work of etiology: exploring a number of topics including generation, seeds, and the effects of cultivation on wild species. The Historia divides plants into four main divisions: trees, shrubs, undershrubs and herbs. The translation is by Theodoros Gaza, a Greek who became a leading figure in the Italian Renaissance. This translation was commissioned by Pope Nicholas V (1448-1455), a patron of scholars who wished to set up a library that included Greek texts in Latin.
Price: $12,000.00 save 20% $9,600.00