(Abu Ali al-Hussein ibn Abdallah ibn Sina). HaKanon HaGadol - Canon Medicinae. Translated from Arabic into Hebrew by Nathan of Cento (HaMe'ati).

Auction 85 | Thursday, November 07th, 2019 at 1:00pm
Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Graphic & Ceremonial Art

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Lot 41
AVICENNA

(Abu Ali al-Hussein ibn Abdallah ibn Sina). HaKanon HaGadol - Canon Medicinae. Translated from Arabic into Hebrew by Nathan of Cento (HaMe'ati).

<<FIRST EDITION.>> Five volumes. Double columns. Extensive marginalia in several early Oriental Hebrew hands in each volume. ff. 438 (of 478). Vol. I: ff. 57 (of 68), initial 11 leaves supplied in facsimile. Vol. II: ff. 55 (of 76), supplied in facsimile: ff.(1-2), (4-6), 1.8, 4:2, 5:4-5, 5:8, 6:1, 6:8, 7:2-6, 8:3-4, 9:5-6. Vol. III: ff. 188 (of 194) lacking f.9:3-6 and initial and final blank. Vol. IV: ff. 96. All complete. Vol. V: ff. 42 (of 44) lacking f.(5):2, final leaf supplied in manuscript. Stains in places, occasional marginal repairs. Modern uniform cream boards. Sm. folio. Slip-case. Vinograd, Naples 26; Goff Heb-4; Offenberg 6; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. p. 767, no. 4486-1; Thes. A71; Wineman Cat. 41; Friedenwald, p. 45.

Naples: Azriel ben Joseph Aschkenazi Gunzenhauser 1491-92

Est: $30,000 - $50,000
<<THE FIRST MEDICAL TEXT PRINTED IN HEBREW.>> The Persian Ibn Sina, or Avicenna (980-1037) as he was referred to in the West, was one of the greatest physicians and philosophers of the Muslim world. In the latter realm he would exert a profound influence on Maimonides. Avicenna wrote a work on cardiology, al-Adwiya al-Qalbiyya (“On Remedies for the Heart”), but by far, his most important contribution to the field of medicine is this work: Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (“Canon of Medicine”), which was translated into Hebrew by Nathan HaMe'ati in 1279. In this truly encyclopedic undertaking, Avicenna drew upon the earlier teachings of Hippocrates and Galen as well as upon his own empirical observations. The five parts of the Canon were originally published in Naples in 1491-92 as a set of three volumes. The contents range from common ailments to life-threatening diseases, and provide an extensive pharmacopeia. The Canon remained one of the basic works of instruction in European medical schools until the beginning of the 16th-century. See S.M. Afnan, Avicenna, His Life and Works (1958); N. Berger (ed.) Jews and Medicine (1995) p. 56; EJ, Vol. III, cols. 955-960. The Naples Canon is rather notorious among Hebrew bibliographers due to the difficulty in presenting a precise collation of the work. No consensus seems to exist. See Treasures of the Valmadnna Trust Library - Otzroth Ya’akov, Incunables no. 47.