8vo. Italian and Latin text, 141 pp., [1], numerous b/w and colour plates, cloth in slightly rubbed d/w, biblio, copy clean & in very good condition, from Strenna Series, Lautet, Torino, 1991.

Synopsis

Andrea Alpago (c. 1450 – late 1521 or January 1522), was an Italian physician and arabist. In publications of his work in Latin his name is frequently given as Andreas Alpagus Bellunensis, where “Bellunensis” refers to his birthplace of Belluno in north eastern Italy. He worked in Damascus in Syria for decades as physician to the consulate of Republic of Venice in Damascus. He was appointed professor of medicine in Padua in north eastern Italy in 1521, where he taught for only two or three months before his death. None of his works were published during his lifetime; after his death they were published on the initiative of his nephew Paolo Alpago. His best known work is his commentary and editing of the Latin translation of The Canon of Medicine of Ibn Sina. This medicine book was translated from Arabic to Latin in the late 12th century by Gerard of Cremona. Andrea Alpago’s edition and supplements to Gerard of Cremona’s translation was widely read in European medical circles during the 16th century. It was first published in 1527 and an expanded edition was published in 1544.