SAVONAROLA, Michele (c.1384-1466). Libro della natura et virtu delle cose, che nutriscono & delle cose non naturali, Venice, 1576, 4to, vellum. Provenance: From the Collection of John Yudkin (bookplate). Second edition of this important work on nutrition.

SAVONAROLA, Michele (c.1384-1466).  Libro della natura et virtu delle cose, che nutriscono & delle cose non naturali, con alcune osseruationi per conseruar la sanità, & alcuni quesiti bellissimi da notare.  Raccolto da diversi auttori Greci, & Latini, & Arabi ... Poi di nuovo con miglior ordine riformato, accresciuto, & emendato, & quasi fatto un' altro per Bartolomeo Boldo, Medico Bressano. Venice: "Appresso Domenico, & Gio. Battista Guerra, fratelli," 1576. 4to (192 x 130mm). Large woodcut ornament on title, initials (small single wormhole to the first few leaves, some light staining and browning). Contemporary vellum, the title in modern printed ink on the spine (bowed). Provenance: From the Collection of Professor John Yudkin (modern bookplate; please see the biographical note at the end of lot 308); old illegible signatures or inscriptions on the front and rear free endpapers. This important and pioneering work on the importance of diet in health was first published in Venice in 1508; this is the second edition, edited by Bartolomeo Boldo. The author, in addition to his writings on nutrition, was a celebrated physician, humanist and historian who became Professor of Medicine at Padua and Court Physician to the House of Este at Ferrara, in addition to being the grandfather of Girolamo Savonarola (1452-98), whose early education he oversaw. He was the first author to describe the aphrodisiac nature of truffles (see pp.77-79, Cap. XX. "De i fonghi"). Durling A Catalogue of Sixteenth Century Printed Books in the National Library of Medicine 4078; not in Garrison & Morton; Vedova II, 423; Vicaire Bibliographie Gastronomique p.771; Wellcome 5794; Westbury Handlist of Italian Cookery Books 202.