PARÉ (Ambroise). Discours d'Ambroise Paré, conseiller,... Lot 47

PARÉ (Ambroise). Discours d'Ambroise Paré, conseiller, et Premier Chirurgien du Roy. A sçavoir, de la mumie, de la licorne, des venins, et de la peste. Paris: Gabriel Buon, 1582. - In-4, 214x159: (16 ff.), 75 ff. out of 76, mq the last blank, fol. 57 in facsimile. Stiff parchment, smooth spine (18th-century binding). Brunet, IV, 366 (Rare). - J. Doe, A bibliography of the works of Ambroise Paré. Amsterdam, 1976, n°24 - Tchemerzine V, 39 (Extremely rare). Extremely rare first edition, as Brunet and Tchémerzine point out. "On August 31, 1580, a powerful personage, Christophe des Ursains, was wounded in the kidneys by a large pointed stone on which his back had fallen from a horse. He was brought back to his castle lifeless, his kidneys, abdomen and thighs bleeding. Treatment did nothing. He was thought to be lost. Ambroise Paré, who lived in Paris, was called in. He was in his seventies at the time, and had a long career as first surgeon to kings. Thanks to him, Christophe des Ursains was saved. Once back on his feet, he was astonished that Paré hadn't used mummy juice to treat the bruises he'd suffered. Mummy juice was said to heal bruises. Paré replied that drinking the flesh of corpses was nothing but a catch-all. Des Ursains then asked him what he thought of unicorn horn, and whether it acted against venoms and poisons as claimed. Again, nonsense," replied Paré. Invited by des Ursains to put his opinion in writing, he published his Discours de la Momie et de la Licorne in 1582. This pamphlet reveals what the imagination can indulge in: it unveils an insane theory and an unheard-of bestiary. Curiosity is the order of the day. For it is more than a document: a universe of incredible beliefs" (Jean-Michel Delacomptée, presentation for the edition of the Discours de la Momie et de la Licorne published by Gallimard in 2011 in the collection "Le Cabinet des lettrés"). The edition opens with an epistle from the author to Christophe des Ursains, followed by a table and six tribute poems, signed by physicians, surgeons and a secretary to the king: Alexis Gaudin, B. de Mauron, Pierre Pigray and Gabriel de Mynut. The second piece is signed C.V.F. The text is illustrated with 12 beautiful and curious woodcuts, six in the text and six full-page. As is often the case, the fine copper-engraved portrait of Ambroise Paré by Étienne Delaune is missing; it has been replaced here by a facsimile reproduction. A washed copy in its original 18th-century binding. Old ink notes have been erased. In addition to the portrait, sheet P1, which was missing, has been replaced by a facsimile reproduction. The last blank leaf is missing. Extensive restoration to the title, with damage to the mention of privilege, as well as to the lower corner of several leaves without damage to the text. Margins short, the figure on folio 25 has been slightly cut by the binder. Provenance: signature on last leaf, dated 1674.