Pietro Andrea Mattioli, Commentaires sur les six livres de Ped. Dioscoride Anazarbeen De la materie medicinale
(Lyons: Guillaume Rouille, 1572)
French translation from Latin by Jean des Moulins
Commenting on Dioscorides was one of the chief activities of 16th century herbalists and no one was more successful than the Italian doctor Pietro Andrea Mattioli. Physician to Ferdinand I and Maximilian II, Mattioli set out to be the supreme authority on Dioscorides. His 'Commentary' was subsequently so revised and enlarged that it became an up-to-date and largely original work. Translated into several languages, it went through upwards of fifty editions, and was considered the classic text for almost two centuries. It is an encyclopaedia of Renaissance pharmacology. The above edition also includes full page illustrations of distillation apparatus.
The College copy features hand coloured illustrations by a contemporary hand.
