[Αρεταίος ο Καππαδόκης / Aretaeus of Cappadocia] Herman Boerhaave (ed.), “Αρεταίου Καππαδόκου Περί αιτιών και σημείων οξέων και χρονίων παθών, βιβλία τέσσαρα, Περί θεραπείας οξέων και χρονίων παθών, βιβλία τέσσαρα / Aretaei Cappadocis de Causis et Signis… de Curatione acutorum, et Diuturnorum Libri Quatuor”, [Leiden], Lugduni Batavorum, Janssonios Vander, 1735. Folio, pp. [8], 26, 604.

Contemporary full-leather. External wear, rubbed, bumped corners, worn extremities, paper pasted along spine, covers loose and joints partly detached. Spotting and light soiling. Ex libris label, occasional handwritten notes.

Aretaeus Of Cappadocia, (flourished 2nd century AD), Greek physician from Cappadocia who practiced in Rome and Alexandria, led a revival of Hippocrates’ teachings, and is thought to have ranked second only to the father of medicine himself in the application of keen observation and ethics to the art.

Herman Boerhaave Dutch physician with significant contribution in medicine. He taught Medicine in Netherlands addressing the importance of the study of ancient Greek medical writers (Hippocrates, Galenus, Aretaeus etc). Within this frame, he undertook this important edition of Aretaeus work incorporating material from the “Medici principes” of Stefanus, the manuscript of the commentaries of Pierre Petit on Aretaeus, several annotations by Scaliger and conjectures by Daniel Willem Triller. He also included all the essays of John Wigan’s “Aretaeus” edition of 1723 printed in Oxford. All these led in the current publication that is considered as the most valuable critical apparatus and commentary of the Aretaeus works. Rare.