Diæteticon…Libri IV.
Antwerp, P. II and J. II Bellère 1627.
8vo (156 x 89 mm.). [xxxiii], 638, [1]p.
Contemporary vellum (lightly soiled), slightly overlapping fore-edges, 19th-century manuscript spine title, evidence of four blue linen ties.
First Edition. The author has been called THE FOUNDER OF MODERN DIETETICS. His gastronomic encyclopedia surveys European eating and drinking habits and their effects on health. The book musters over one hundred ancient and modern botanical, medical, zoologic, agricultural, literary and folkloric texts and proposes dietary regimens to aid the ailing. It investigates birds, fruits, mushrooms, vegetables, grains, medicinal simples, wild game, butter, cheese, preserved meats, wine, fortified liquors and more rarefied victuals obtained from cranes, etc. The emphasis on seafood’s nutritional value ran counter to contemporary practice. The encyclopedia closes with a detailed table of contents, alphabetic subject index and A SIX-LANGUAGE FOOD DICTIONARY. A good copy (foxed, a rust hole touching a few letters); contemporary title inscription of the Antwerp Jesuits, stamp br on front flyleaf, duplicate stamp of a Louvain library on the title.
¶Albala, Eating Right in the Renaissance 43-4; Alden, European Americana II: 627/88; Simon, Bibliotheca gastronomica 1100; Krivatsy, A Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Printed Books in the National Library of Medicine 8335; STCV 7043921.
Price: $2,750.00