Anatomia del cavallo, infermità, et svoi rimedii : opera nuoua, degna di qualsiuoglia prencipe, & caualiere, & molto necessaria à filosofi, medici, cauallerizzi, & marescalchi / Del sig. Carlo Rvini.. by RUINI, Carlo - 1599

Venice: Appresso G. Bindoni, il giouane, 1599. 2nd Edition. Soft cover. Very Good. 2nd Edition. Soft cover. Folio - over 12 - 15" tall. Two parts in one volume. Folio (321 x 231 mm). [36], 295 [1]; [4], 386, [30] pp., titles-pages printed in red and black and with large woodcut device, 64 woodcut plates within pagination, alphabetical index at end of part II, errata on ***4r of part I and final page of part II, separate title-page to part II. Signatures: π2 *6 **6 ***4, a-2a⁶ 2b⁴; π2 A-2L⁶ 2M⁴. Printed on strong paper. With the two blanks in part II. Contemporary flexible vellum (soiled and browned, binding restored with upper portion of spine repaired), remnant of paper label to spine. Little age-toning of text, occasional spotting and finger-soiling, faint dampstaining mainly to upper portion, repaired tear to upper margin of Dd4 costing two letters of headline text, chipped corners of part I title-leaf restored. Collated complete. A fine, wide-margined copy. ---- Dibner 186 (this ed.); Norman 1858 (1st ed.); BM/STC Italian, p. 592; D.S.B. XI, p.604ff; Nissen ZBI 3514; Garrison-Morton 285; Osler 918; Mortimer Italian 448; Wellcome 5625. - RARE SECOND EDITION of the first book devoted exclusively to the anatomy of an animal, and the first monograph on horses. "Besides being one of the foundation-stones of modern veterinary medicine, it contains a description of the lesser circulation. The admirable woodcuts were inspired by those in Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica (1543)" (Garrison-Morton). "The fine engravings and fluent text detail the anatomy and physiology of the horse, with the eye, ear, intestines, kidneys and bladder being especially well treated. The heart and the lesser circulation are described but it is stated that left ventricle sent blood and vital spirits to all parts of the body but the lung (which prompted the Veterinary School in Bologna to honor Ruini with a tablet proclaiming him the discoverer of the circulation!) In exactness and beauty of treatment, Ruini's book has been favorably compared to Vesalius' treatment of man (Dibner 186). "One of the finest achievements of the heroic age of anatomy... its truly magnificent figures need not fear comparison with those of Vesalius or Eustachius" (C. Singer, The Evolution of Anatomy, p.153). Of the woodcuts Cole writes "it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that Ruini's work is the direct and logical outcome of the Vesalian tradition, since it resembles, if it does not equal, the masterpiece of the founder of anatomy in almost every detail" (Cole, Hist. of Comparative Anatomy, pp.83-97). The first part deals with horse anatomy, the second part with horse diseases.The second edition was issued one year after the first and differs only in title-page and name of dedicee. It is even rarer than the first edition with only two complete copies recorded at auction in the past 20 years.