HERNÁNDEZ FRANCISCO Rerum medicarum Novae Hispaniae thesauru

Sale 2162 - Lot 283

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Estimate: $ 10,000 - $ 15,000

THE MEXICAN TREASURY HERNÁNDEZ, FRANCISCO. Rerum medicarum Novae Hispaniae thesaurus; seu, Plantarum animalium mineralium Mexicanorum historia. [4], 916, [2], 917-50, [22] (of [34]); 90, [6] pages, including engraved title (rehinged, with minor restoration); lacks 2L2.5 (pages 399-400 and 405-06, replaced with pen-and-ink facsimiles), and a² and 4 other unnumbered leaves following page 950. Bound between 2P6 and 2Q1 are 2 leaves with 4 17th(?)-century pen-and-ink botanical drawings claimed by the artist's caption to be more accurate depictions of plants shown elsewhere in the book. Folio, 325x222 mm, old vellum, rejointed with cloth, endpapers renewed, front cover warped and detached; contents toned, lower portion dampstained throughout, scattered early marginalia, a few oxidized with resulting small holes. Modern stamps of Liz Frontini Maoski at beginning, middle, and end of volume. Rome: Jacobus Mascardus, 1628

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first edition, scarce first issue, of an abridgment by Nardo Antonio Recchi of Hernández's monumental study of the natural history of Mexico. Physician to Philip II of Spain and chief medical officer of the Indies, Hernández undertook the first scientific expedition to the New World by order of the King, spending the years 1570-77 in Mexico engaged in research and producing a vast manuscript account of his findings that remained unpublished at his death in 1587. After Recchi's death in 1595, the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome acquired a manuscript of the abridgment for publication under the patronage and supervision of Prince Federico Cesi, with notes and additions by Johann Schreck, Fabio Colonna, Johann Schmidt, and Cesi himself. Only a small number of copies appeared with the title dated 1628; the book was later reissued under different patronage after Cesi's death in 1630. This copy has 2 preliminary leaves (engraved title with printer's note on verso, and license leaf); dedications to Cardinal Francesco Barberini on pages 459-64, 845-46, and 903-04; and the following mispaginations: 011 for 110, 400 for 500, and 968 for 698. Alden 628/59; DSB VI, 309-10; Garrison-Morton 1821.1; Krivatsy 5532; Medina, Biblioteca Hispano-Americana 837; Nissen BBI 861 and ZBI 1908; Palau 113534. OCLC locates only the NLM and Hunt Institute copies of the first issue, the latter only a fragment; no copy of the first issue has ever been recorded in American Book Prices Current.