It was with an English bookseller that the Department of Written Heritage and Graphics (DPEG) of the Media Libraries Network spotted this exceptional work during the summer, involving personalities from the Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier in the Renaissance era.
This is the only copy of a treatise on Dean’s military surgery Laurent Joubert offered by the author to his friend and pupil Claude Formy :
“Treatise on the arcbusade containing the true essence of evil and its own cure from certain and methodical indications, plus a brief discourse on the cure of arcbusades; treatise on burns, blecé diets [sic] “
By Mr. Laurens Joubert, King’s Ordinary Physician, Chancellor and Lecturer at his University of Montpellier.
In Lyon, by Jean de Tournes, typographer of the Roy, 1574. In-8.
Laurent Joubert (1529-1583), eminent physicist, professor and dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier
He served in the royal army during the campaign of 1569. He was a contemporary of Ambroise Paré (1510-1590) considered the father of modern surgery and who had published a work on the same subject about thirty years ago. Laurent Joubert pays homage to him for “his immortal writings” in his communication to the reader.
The uniqueness of this document lies in the autograph dedication in Latin that its author has written in front of the title page, in capital letters, according to the taste of a passionate era of Roman antiquity. Given the similarity of the capital letters, it may have been written by the artist himself, François Sanchez, who engraved the funeral plaque of the Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier which pays homage to Guillaume Rondelet. The latter was Joubert’s teacher and Claude Formy’s cousin, a friend to whom Joubert made his dedication. Claude Formy (known as “Claude the Convert”), a fellow physicist who converted to Protestantism and leader of the reform in Montpellier, collaborated with his friend to establish the first biography of his cousin Rondelet.
The present edition, copies of which are very rare, of this treatise on bullet wounds is enriched with several chapters: currently, the work acquired by the Métropole is the only copy identified in France, only three others are known in the United States . .
This extraordinary document enriches the heritage collections of the Network of Multimedia Libraries of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole
The collections of the assets of the Émile Zola Central Multimedia Library, founded in 1794 following the revolutionary confiscations, are enriched with new acquisitions every year, thanks in particular to the financial support of the State, through the Regional Department of Cultural Affairs (DRAC).
This unique copy completes the heritage collections that already include several works by Laurent Joubert, including a manuscript written between 1573 and 1582, a real “cancellariat manual”: Sermenti, Regolamenti, Bolle, Ordinanze, Arresti and Notabilia excerpts from the Statute Book and Book of Privileges of the Medical University of Montpellier / Chancellor Laurent Joubert (1573-1582).
Like all rare and precious documents, this work can also be consulted upon reasoned request at the central mediatheque Émile Zola, Léo Malet room (3rd floor).
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