First Venice edition of a medical work by the Greek physician and pharmacologist Pedanius Dioscorides (c. 40-90), translated by the French physician Jean Ruel. His De materia medica, an encyclopedic work on herbal medicine, was his fundamental work, and can be seen as the precursor of the many later pharmacopoeias. As a Greek in the service of the Roman Empire, he assembled all that was then known concerning the medicinal uses of plants, animals and minerals, adding information from his own experience accompanying the Roman army to Spain, the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere, where he came to know many Persian, Indian and other exotic medicines. "It was the Ketâb al-ḥaπâʾeš (Book of the herbs), a translation of Dioscorides' famed treatise on materia medica by Eṣṭefan b. Basîl and his master the celebrated physician-translator Ḥonayn b. Esḥâq (b. 192/808 at Ḥîra), that constituted the original source of knowledge and inspiration for medical and pharmacological writers ... in the lands of Islam in the Middle Ages and afterwards. ... Dioscorides was held in great esteem by all the physicians and scholars in the Islamic period" (Encyclopaedia Iranica).
With the bookplate of Kenneth K. Mackenzie (dated october 1934) on verso side of last blank page and a library stamp on pastedown. First and last few leaves with marginal waterstain, minor browning and some occasional spots. Binding slightly damaged on spine, but overall a very good copy. Durling 1154; USTC 827015; not in Adams; cf. Garrison, p. 109.