Opera Medicinalia

1484

Shoults Itc 1484 M

Venice: [Peregrinus de Pasqualibus, Bononiensis] for Dionysius Bertochus

This 1484 Venice printing of Yūḥannā Ibn Māsawayh’s (or Johannes Mesue) Opera Medicinalia, his best known work, is a survivor. The text block on display reveals four double-sewn bands that continue to hold the sections of paper together to form a book of 294 leaves. The ends of the cord bands have long gone; so too the wooden boards to which they were once attached. Five patches of leather have been pasted in each compartment along the spine to strengthen and secure the sections. Hanging by a thread are two uncoloured head and tail bands.