Old Age, and Preservation of Youth. By Roger Bacon, A Franciscan Frier. Translated out of Latin; with Annotations, and an Account of his Life and Writings. By Richard Browne, M. L. Coll. Med. Lond. WITH: A Physical Account of the Tree of Life, by Edw. Madeira Arrais. Translated likewise out of the Latin by the same Hand.
London: Printed for Tho.[mas] Flesher at the Angel and Crown and Edward Evets at the Green Dragon, 1683.
Price: $1,250.00
About the item
First English edition. [20 leaves] (beginning with general title, A1, followed by the title for The Cure of Old Age .), 156 pp., [3 leaves] (beginning with title page for Arbor Vitae; or, a Physical Account of the Tree of Life In the Garden of Eden .), 108 pp., [4 leaves] (contents), [1 leaf] (advertisement for Flesher books). A8,a8.b4,B-S8,T4 [T4,ads] [40],156,[6],108, [8],[2 ads]p. General title-page torn at top with loss of about one inch to top page. Contemporary calf, front and back cover loose. Very Good internallySigned Sidney Ballen on ffep. Wing B372; ESTC r30749; T.C. II, 20; Ferguson, Glasgow, I,58; Krivatsy/NLM 566; Gottlieb 34; Manchester 114; Osler 501; Duveen 38; Neu 179; Dawson 349; Wellcome II, 83.
Item #252193
The first English edition of 'De retardandis senectutis accidentibus et sensibus conservandis.' It had appeared in Latin in London in 1590. Arrais, d 1652, physician to Juan IV, King of Portugal, and medical author. In this treatise "I compose a Discourse concerning the Qualities of that Wood or Tree of Life in the Earthly Paradise, which either prolonged Life to Eternity, or at least a very long Time." It is more than a philosophical paper with numerous references to medical case histories, medicinal discoveries (including Opium) and with references to non-European medicinal practices (Brazil, East & West Indies, India, etc.) It seems to have been overlooked by many of our usually complete bibliographies (Alden, Sabin, Borba de Morales, Palau etc.).
