Marcelli Malpighii. Medici, & Philosophi, nec non Professoris Bononiensis, Regiæ Societatis Anglicanæ Socii. Opera Omnia, seu thesaurus locupletissimus botanico-medico-anatomicus, viginti quatuor tractatus complectens et in duos tomos distributus, quorum Tractatuum Seriem videre est Dedicatione absolutâ.
Two volumes in one. Leiden: Peter Vander, 1687. Second edition.
Quarto (9” x 7 ½”, 228mm x 190mm): *4(–*1) **4 A–Aa4, 2A–Hhh4 [$3 signed; –2A1, –Ggg1; S2 signed “S”]. 319 leaves, pp. [14] (title, blank, 3pp. dedication, table of contents, 2pp. preface, section title, blank, 2pp. dedication to the Royal Society, preface, table of contents) 1–170 [22] (22pp. index), 1–6 7–379 [37] (36pp. index, copyright) 1–2 3–16. With an engraved title page and 117 engraved scientific illustrations (on 116 leaves), of which 10 are folding.
Bound in stabbed vellum. On the spine, author and title inked in manuscript. All edges of the text-block stained blue.
Boards soiled and corners bumped. Dampstaining along the gutter, primarily in the first volume. Plates with occasional stub tears. “J 92” and [misttolcóm?] written on the front board. Manuscript initial R and manuscript note “Ex libris Danieli Ryttöok / 1794 12 Julii” inked to the front pastdown. Manuscript note “Nob. Daniel Ryttókh Bibliothecam / Coll. Refor. S. Patakiensis hoc / libro […] – 797” inked to the recto of the flyleaf. “Illust. Collegii H.C. addictot. S. Pasakien dono P. Dionys. Rÿttock. […] Anno 1797. Stephano Kovars p.t. Bibliothecario” inked in manuscript to the title-page alongside an ink stamp of the Protestant College of Sárospatak and a XXc embossed “Library Collection” stamp. Ink stamp of Sárospatak to V1 recto and to Hhh4 verso. Graphite cataloger’s note “Gyógytan” to the rear pastedown.
Marcello Malpighi (1628–1694) studied medicine at the prestigious University of Bologna, where he received his doctorate in 1663. On a trip to visit the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand II, in Pisa, Malpighi met Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, whose view of the body as an anatomical and physiological machine he quickly adopted. After returning to Bologna, Malpighi was elected to the Royal Society of London. His skillful use of the microscope yielded countless invaluable discoveries, the most significant of which was that of pulmonary capillaries and their role in the circulatory system, which Harvey had been unable to observe with his magnifying glass. Malpighi observed — for the first time — the development of chicks under a microscope and discovered the trachea in insects, which allows respiration through the dermis (both discoveries illustrated in the present example). Finally, in the field of botany, he distinguished himself with the discovery of the vascular bundles. At the height of his fame, Pope Innocent XII invited Malpighi to Rome as papal physician. He taught medicine in the Papal Medical School until he died of apoplexy in 1694. In accordance with his wishes, the school performed his autopsy.
Despite Malpighi’s involved role with the Catholic Church, the present example was given to Hungary’s Protestant College of Sárospatak (founded in 1531 and often referred to as Schola Patakiensis or Collegium Patakiensis, as seen in the manuscript notes). Medicinal texts were valued throughout the Protestant Reformation as treatises on the theological integration of the body and soul, symbols of resistance to inherited knowledge, and for reframing illness as natural rather than punitive. Though the manuscript notes spell the donor’s name in a variety of ways, Ryttöok/Ryttókh/Rÿttock is likely an anglicized or phonetically interpreted spelling of the common Hungarian surname Török.
Dr. Michael D. Paul was a nephrologist, an impassioned supporter of special collections, and a dedicated patron of dealers in fine printing and rare Judaica. Through his support, the Jewish Public Library launched the Dr. Michael D. Paul Rare Books Initiative, which worked to bring its 1,500 rare texts to the public through visits to secondary schools, community centers, libraries, and synagogues. In memoriam for Dr. Paul, JPL’s director, Eddie Paul, aptly summarized the collector’s life and work, writing, “Kidneys filter and clear toxins from the blood; books help to clarify and filter the detritus the world throws at the imagination.” The present example was lot 147 in Kestenbaum & Company's sale of Dr. Paul's library on March 5th, 2026.
Garrison-Morton 66 (not this edition); Heirs of Hippocrates 574; Nissen ZBI 2656; Pritzel 5763.
Cataloged by G.R. Murdock
Item #GRM0079
Price: $1,500