JONSTON, John.

by John Jonston

£1,450 · Offered by Sokol Books

A very good copy of the first edition of this highly successful medical work. John Jonston (Polish Jan Jonston, 1603-1675) was a Polish world-famous physician, biologist and historian born to a family of noble Scottish origins. During his life, he travelled extensively across Europe for his education: he attended St. Andrews University, where he studied theology, and later the Universities of Cambridge, Frankfurt, Franeker and Leiden, where he specialised in botany and medicine. His reputation as a physician spread quickly, and everywhere he travelled he established contacts with outstanding men of science. An extremely prolific author and a man of immense knowledge, his large corpus include encyclopaedias of natural science, treatises on zoology, botany, hygiene, medicine, but also works on ethics and history. In 1642, Jonston was offered the post of head of the medical department at the University of Frankfurt. He rejected, however promised to prepare a textbook of medicine for the students of this university: the result was Idea universae medicinae practicae (here). An encyclopaedic handbook of clinical medicine, it is arranged in eight books dealing with diseases in general, external and internal diseases, fevers, and their appropriate treatments. Interestingly, Jonston discussed a number of conditions concerned with insanity and neurosis. In the foreword Jonston emphasizes that the information on various remedies comes from the works of the best physicians and includes w

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.