CARDANO, Girolamo.

De Utilitate ex Adversis Capienda, Libri IIII...

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Woodcut printer’s device on verso of last leaf. 36 p.l., 1161, [1] pp., 1 leaf. Thick 8vo, cont. blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards (see below for a full description of binding), catches present, clasps gone. Basel: [H. Petri, 1561]. First edition, and a very fine and fresh copy in a dated blind-stamped binding by Johannes Weischner, of one of Cardano’s rarest books. This book is concerned with the “advantages to be derived from misfortunes” and contains much of medical, philosophical, and psychological interest. It was written during the time when Cardano’s elder son was convicted and executed for having poisoned his wife. “Famous as a philosopher and physician, Cardano was one of the most interesting personalities of the Italian Renaissance and one of the most learned men of his time. He covered almost every branch of knowledge in his writings: philosophy, mathematics, physics, hygiene, medicine, astronomy and astrology, and theology… “This first edition of his work on the uses of adversity contains many autobiographical details and was completed at a time when the author was experiencing a number of misfortunes in his private life. The final chapter is on grief and in it he tells the story of his son who was executed in 1560 for poisoning his wife. The most moving part of the volume is Cardano’s defense of his son which is added at the end of the book. The volume also includes a fragment from his son’s treatise on fetid food.”–Heirs of Hippocrates 148. “The work on the Uses of Adversity was divided into four books, of which the first treated generally of all kinds of adversity, and of the preparation of the mind against imminent ills; the second treated of bodily adversity, as deformity, disease, age, death; the third book treated of adversity in fortune, as through poverty, envy, exile, anger of princes, prison; and the last book treated of adversity through one’s relations, as through wife and children. It was thus naturally closed with the history of his misfortune through his son. The whole work is written in the temper of a follower of Epictetus, and contains many allusions to its author’s private history.”–Morely, Jerome Cardan, pp. 244-45. BINDING: Fine contemporary richly blindstamped pigskin over wooden boards by Johannes Weischner of Jena, upper cover with medallion portrait of Johann Friederich II Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg-Eisenach (1529-95) and his coat-of-arms, above which is stamped “I[ohann] F[riedrich] D[er] M[ittlere] H[erzog] Z[u] S[achsen]” and “1559 ” and beneath the coat-of-arms is the date “1564”, all stamped in gilt (now oxidized). The use of a portrait, princely or private, on bindings was a common but nearly unique theme found on 16th-century German bindings (see G.D. Hobson, “German Renaissance Patrons of Bookbinding,” The Book Collector (Autumn 1954), pp. 171-82). The lower cover is richly blindstamped in a panelled design. Johannes Weischner was the father of Lukas Weischner, binder and librarian at the University of Jena. Fine copy. Old stamp of the Augustiner Convent at Münnerstadt on title.

• USD 9,500.00 > Andere Währungen
• Bestellnummer: HillBibl-1895

• Antiquariat: Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc. (USA)