Joyfull newes out of the newfound world, wherein are declared the rare and singular vertues of divers and sundrie Herbs, Trees, Oyles, Plants, & Stones, with their applications, aswell to the use of Phisicke, as Chirurgery. Also the Portrature of the sayde Herbes, very aptly described: Englished by John Frampton Merchant. Newly corrected as by conference with the olde copies may appeare. Whereunto are added three other bookes treating of the Bezaar stone, the herbe Escuerçonera, the properties of yron and steele, in Medicine, and the benefite of snowe.

MONARDES, Nicolás.

Edité par London: by Thomas Dawson, for William Norton, 1580

A propos de cet article

First complete edition in English of the first treatise on Central and South American medicinal plants, from the library of the Suffolk physician and author Philip Moore (fl.1564-1580), with his gilt supralibros on the front cover and numerous annotations, possibly in his hand. Monardes's treatise was published in Spanish in 1565 as Historia medicinal and progressively enlarged in the subsequent editions of 1565, 1569, and 1574. The first English edition, translated by John Frampton, was published in 1565. This second edition incorporates material from the Spanish 1574 edition, specifically the sections on bezoars, escuerçonera, iron, steel, and snow from page 111 onwards. Frampton was a merchant who mastered Spanish during his career in the Seville-to-Bristol trade. In 1651, he was arrested by the Spanish Inquisition, tortured, tried, and forbidden to return to England. He nevertheless made his escape, and became a translator in London. Monardes's Historia medicinal was his first project. "Whatever Frampton's intentions of a political or mercantile nature, one fact remains incontestable, namely that his efforts were a contribution to the expansion of European pharmacology. Speculation is, of course, free with regard to what Frampton may have known first hand of Monardes's gardens and dispensaries" (Beecher, pp. 107-8). Based in Seville, the port of entry for the trade with America, Nicolas Bautista Monardes (1493-1588) was in the ideal position to collect and study the plants and seeds of the New World. He bought specimens from merchants and sailors, grew them in his garden, experimented with them on patients, and interviewed travellers to obtain information about their uses among American natives. In this work, Monardes describes species such as coca, guaiac, sarsaparilla, dragon fruit, guava, sunflower, copal resin, and tobacco. It features "the first accurate drawing of a tobacco plant, presumably growing in his own garden" (Sauer, p. 819). He notes the purgative qualities of the milk of the Pinipinichi plant (exploited by the Nahuatl), and the healing properties of Mechoacan roots, used to treat jaundice, gout, epilepsy, and syphilis. He also recommends the use of ground tail-bone of armadillo for earache; the animal is illustrated at fol. 73. Although many of the plant species had been described in earlier works, Monardes was the first to establish a medicinal use for many of them and sharing this knowledge with vernacular readers. Historia medicinal enjoyed an extraordinary success, the title of this English translation indicating the hopefulness it inspired in European medical circles. Before Monardes's death, Historia was published in nineteen editions in five languages, including Latin, French, German, French, and Italian. Provenance: Philip Moore practised physic and surgery at Halesworth in Suffolk. He was the author of The Hope of Health wherin is conteined a goodlie Regimente of Life (London, 1564), and a series of almanacs in 1567, 1570, 1571, 1573, and 1580, which are noted as "very profitable for all men, specially for phisitions churgurgions". Hope of Health promoted the knowledge and cultivation of medical herbs among the poor, with a similar democratic urge as that of Monardes. Moore was a friend of the medical humanist William Bullein, who had a living in Suffolk in the 1550s but later practised in London. Moore - or another early reader - has marked numerous passages of interest with manicules and index notes. Some scattered later annotations include one signed and dated "EK 1695 M.D." regarding the use of the gum caranna: "I have used caranna spread on leather to great sprains in the instep, & to my selfe severall tims with great success alone" (leafA4 verso). Other annotations (in a different hand) focus on sassafras as well as the medicinal benefits of iron and steel. ESTC S112800; European Americana 580/51; Garrison-Morton 1817; Hunt 137; Sabin 49945; not in Heirs of Hippocrates. Donald Beecher, "John.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Joyfull newes out of the newfound world, wherein are declared the rare and singular vertues of divers and sundrie Herbs, Trees, Oyles, Plants, & Stones, with their applications, aswell to the use of Phisicke, as Chirurgery. Also the Portrature of the sayde Herbes, very aptly described: Englished by John Frampton Merchant. Newly corrected as by conference with the olde copies may appeare. Whereunto are added three other bookes treating of the Bezaar stone, the herbe Escuerçonera, the properties ...
• Éditeur: London: by Thomas Dawson, for William Norton, 1580