1683 JACOB BEN ISAAC ZAHALON Medical Works SEFER OTZAR HA-HAYYIM Hebrew Text 1st

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

1683 JACOB BEN ISAAC ZAHALON Medical Works SEFER OTZAR HA-HAYYIM Hebrew Text 1st:
$600.00

JACOB BEN ISAAC ZAHALON. [Hebrew Text:] SEFER OTZAR HA\'HAYYIM. [Thesaurus vitae... pous medicum libb. XIII divisum...]VENICE: Vendramin, 1683. First Edition.Hardcovers, paper covered boards with leather covered spine and corners, Folio, 8” x 12”.Lacks 19 of the 97 leaves of the complete work. Lacks the title page leaf, the first Introduction leaf, leaves 29-32, leaves 61-64, and leaves 87-95. NONETHELESS, this original first printing contains many complete parts and begins with leaf numbered #1. Laid-in is a facsimile copy of the original title page (computer printed)..Pagination of this copy (by numbered leaf): 1-28, 33-60; 65-86.Pagination of the Complete Book (for comparative purposes with the copy I am offering): [1 leaf] title-page and verso, [1 leaf] two pages of introduction, 95 numbered leaves.
Printed on laid paper, each leaf has the wonderful tangible feel of the pressed printing.Condition: Spine covering mostly torn and chipped away; the front cover is almost completely detached, hanging on by 3 cords; the first leaf is almost disbound; lacks the title page leaf and other leaves as noted above; the title of the work has been handwritten in Hebrew on the front blank endpaper; there are a few old library stamps (deaccessioned from the “Prager Israelitische Cultus-Gemeinde Bibliothek”, with its stamp on the front free-endpaper); there is light to medium water-staining and shorelining throughout (text is always bright and fully legible beneath); there are some wormholes (touching a few letters); the first numbered leaf has a number of creases, small holes, and edge tears, but remains a solid page with text that is clear and with only a few words affected by holes; the second numbered leaf has its bottom blank margin torn off.This Important and Influential Rabbinical Medical Treatise is VERY SCARCE, even in this partially incomplete state..
About ZAHALON and OZAR HA-HAYYIM (extracted from a work titled “The Seventeenth Century Hebrew Book”):
*******JACOB BEN ISAAC ZAHALON : 1683, Venice, Vendramin.
Treatise on medicine by Rabbi Jacob ben Isaac Zahalon (1630-1693), OZAR HA-HAYYIM is an encyclopedic manual discussing illnesses and their cures, reflecting seventeenth-century medical practice. The title page states that it is part three of Ozar ha-Hokhmot. It lists the thirteen books comprising Ozar ha-Hayyim, each representing a different branch of medicine.
The thirteen books enumerated on the title page and comprising Ozar ha-Hayyim are 1) on bodily hygiene and dietetics; 2) fevers and their cures; 3) the pulse, color of urine, and condition of the tongue; 4) varieties of poisin in plants and metals and appropriate remedies; 5) reasons for and diagnoses of diseases; 6) simple and complex solutions; 7: illnesses of the various parts of the head and remedies; 8) the chest and limbs; 9) internal illnesses; 10) external illnesses; 11) on women’s illnesses; 12) children’s illnesses; and 13) on mental illnesses. This last (reportedly) was not published due to a shortage of funds.
The title page is followed by an introduction by Zahalon. The text is set in two columns in rabbinic letters; headers and initial phrases are in square letters. The text is in the form of questions and answers. Each of the books is subdivided: for example, book seven on illnesses of the various parts of the head is comprised of sections on the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, teeth, throat and cheeks.
Zahalon describes contemporary illnesses, such as an outbreak and treatment of plague (morbilli) in 1656, and many that appear quite modern, such as a psychoanalytic analysis of lovesickness. He is aware of the curative value of herbs and minerals and has been described as foreseeing many of the modern advances in medicine. However, Zahalon never sways from believing that in the end all cures are in God’s hands.******About this book (from a Sotheby’s listing - book had an estimate of $3000 - $4000):
******Ozar ha-Hayyim is an encyclopedic treatise on medicine by Jacob ben Isaac Zahalon (1630-1693), reflecting seventeenth-century medical practice. The title page enumerates thirteen discrete sections: 1) bodily hygiene and diet; 2) fevers and their cures; 3) the pulse, color of urine, and condition of the tongue; 4) poison in plants and metals, and appropriate remedies; 5) reasons for and diagnoses of diseases; 6) simple and complex solutions; 7) illnesses of the various parts of the head and remedies; 8) the chest and limbs; 9) internal illnesses; 10) external illnesses; 11) women\'s illnesses; 12) children\'s illnesses; and 13) mental illnesses.The work includes an introduction by Zahalon and two medical glossaries, the first before part one, and the other preceding part seven; the main text is in a question and answer format. Zahalon addresses even the most delicate topics, including a description of the symptoms, causes, and treatments for syphilis, though euphemistically referring to it as the “French Disease.”Zahalon was born in Rome where he later received a medical education and the degree of artium ac medicinae doctor at the university. In 1682 he became a rabbi at Ferrara. His best known work is Ozar ha Hayyim, a manual of medicine...With the medical information, he also stresses the ethical side of medical practice, gives practical advice to physicians, and urges them to recite weekly the physician\'s prayer he had composed.******
Free shipping within the United States only. International buyers please check Shipping Details for costs to your country.