Eucharius Roesslin (d1526) - photo 1
Eucharius Roesslin (d1526) - photo 2
Eucharius Roesslin (d1526) - photo 3

Eucharius Roesslin (d1526)

Lot 95
09.12.2020 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 25 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 470093
Lot 95 | Eucharius Roesslin (d1526)
Estimate value
£ 25 000 – 35 000
Eucharius Roesslin (d.1526)

Der Swangern Frauwen und Hebammen Rosegarten. 1518

ROESSLIN, Eucharius (d.1526). Der Swangern Frauwen und Hebammen Rosegarten. [Cologne: Arnt von Aich, c.1518].



Rare early edition, in a contemporary binding, of the first printed textbook for midwives. One of three editions printed around the same time, of which this is probably the third, it including engravings attributed to the Frankfurt artist Martin Kaldenbach, a pupil of Albrecht Dürer. ‘In the “Rosengarten” Roesslin spoke not only from his own obstetrical experience, but quoted passages from the best known medical authors of antiquity and the middle ages, such as Hippocrates, Galen, Rhazes, Avicenna, and Albertus Magnus. Distinguishing his work from the works of his predecessors are the gynecological and obstetrical descriptions which he added, and, above all, the seventeen little pictures of the different positions of the foetus in utero’ (Hellman).



The work is based on the manuscripts of Soranus of Ephesus who wrote in the second century AD and the ninth-century Moschion Codex in the Royal Library at Brussels. In all probability Roesslin got his inspiration for the illustrations of the foetus in utero from the Heidelberg Codex in the Vatican Library. ABPC/RBH record no other copy sold at auction in the last 35 years. Garrison & Morton 6138; Choulant, History and Bibliography of Anatomic Illustration (1945) pp 73-75; Klein, Eucharius Rösslin's 'Rosengarten' gedruckt im Jahre 1513. Facsimile mit Begleit-Text von G.Klein (Munich 1910); Durling NLM 3894; Hellman, A collection of early obstetrical books; Waller 8091; VD-16 R-2850 (5 copies only).



Small quarto (202 x 142mm). Collation: A-O4, complete with final blank. Woodcut title border of 4 blocks, one full-page woodcut illustration, 20 small woodcuts, all but one foetal illustrations, the other of a birthing chair (quires B and K with small marginal stains, very small marginal worming from quire F to end, with the consequent loss of a couple of letters to leaves from K2 until end, some light spotting, soiling and browning throughout). Contemporary half calf over wooden boards, tooled in blind with floral roll, single ornament in compartments, remains of clasp (lower compartment repaired, splits at spine, upper cover almost detached). Provenance: [Irving Davis (named in Sotheby's catalogue, 2 April 1985, lot 81)] – [Jean Blondelet].

Auction house category:Books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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09.12.2020 – 09.12.2020
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