Beschreibung:

BERENGARIO DA CARPI, Giacomo (ca. 1460-1530). Tractatus de fractura calve sive cranei . Bologna: Hieronymus de Benedictis, 10 December 1518. 4 o (208 x 150 mm). Collation: A 6 B-Z 4 AA-CC 4 (A1r title and woodcut, A1v preliminary verse and letters by various authors, A3r dedication to Lorenzo de Medici, A3v introduction, A6r text, CC1v letter to the reader, CC2r index, CC3r errata, CC3v colophon, register and printer's woodcut device, CC4 blank). 105 leaves, foliated. Roman type, title in gothic. Anatomical woodcut of the cranium on title (some early pen hatch strokes), 21 woodcut illustrations of surgical instruments, 2 large woodcut initials of Renaissance ornament, and numerous other smaller initals. (Hole at center of G4 patched affecting several words, supplied in skilful facsimile, small hole in F1 affecting several letters, some minor marginal staining.) Later vellum (text block a little warped). Provenance : a few corrections and implied foliation supplied in an early hand; lettering on fore-edge. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST SEPARATE TREATISE ON HEAD INJURIES AND THEIR NEUROSURGICAL TREATMENT. In 1517 Berengario was called to attend to Lorenzo de Medici who had suffered a gunshot wound and an occipital skull fracture in battle. This illustrated monograph was written as a result of the assignment and was dedicated to Lorenzo. "Berengario was able to cite from contemporary knowledge or from his own direct observation the relationship between the location of the lesions and the resulting neurological effects ... Berengario's book was the most original neurosurgical treatise until then and was not surpassed until the appearance of Ambroise Par's similar work in 1562 [see lot 151]" (DSB). Garrison-Morton 4850.2; Putti pp. 136-37; Norman 186.