Exceedingly Rare Pleurisy Work

Basel: Leonhardi Ostenii (Leonard Ostein), [1591]. 195 by 150mm (7¾ by 6 inches). Sm. 4to. Twentieth century green silk with printed title label on cover; [12] pp. In Latin. Title and verso printed within an ornamental border. Head and tail piece woodcuts, and the large woodcut printer’s device of three lions and an hourglass on the verso of the final leaf. Swiss printer Ostein (1538–1593) is known for his elaborate ornamentation, which is otherwise unusual in early dissertations.

Very good with light soiling and light foxing.

Dissertation at the Collegii Medici in Basel by Simon Grynaeus of Prague. This work is a summary of the contemporary knowledge concerning pleurisy (inflammation of the membrane surrounding our lungs) in 48 technical theses. Pleurisy is commonly caused by pneumonia and related to the pneumonic plague (of relevance then) and COVID-19 (of relevance now).

Latin was the lingua franca of European academia and in a world without passports, Grynaeus of Bohemia could easily study medicine in Switzerland. In 1594 Grynaeus performed the first historically documented autopsy in the region that is now the Czech Republic (he dissected a suicide victim) and thus contributed to early forensic medicine.

Exceedingly rare. OCLC locates only one copy worldwide at the University of Basel under record #602892632. At the time of cataloguing, there were no auction records in Rarebookhub and no other copies available for sale. Not listed in Catalogue of Sixteenth Century Printed Books in the National Library of Medicine.