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AUCTIONS  Lot nr: | 11 | Book nr: | 33572 | Author: | ACOSTA, Cristóbal | Title: | Tractado de la Drogas, y medicinas de las Indias Orientales, con sus Plantas debuxadas al bivo | Town: | Burgos | Publisher: | Martin de Victoria impressor de su Magestad | Year: | 1578 | Description: | 8vo, [24]+448+32 pp, title in beautiful woodcut border, oval woodcut portrait of Acosta, and 47 woodcut, mostly full-page. (45 woodcuts of plants and 2 woodcuts of elephants). Beautiful initials. Slightly foxed, pale water stains on some lvs at the end. Old owner's inscription on title page.
Bound in half black calf, marbled boards | Note: | Ref. Sabin 113 ; Nissen BBI 3n ; Hunt 130 ; Garrison-Morton 1819 ; Pritzel 13.
Scarce first edition of this essential work on non-European flora and Indian plants with medicinal properties (curcuma, opium, camphora, pineapple...), an illustrated adaptation of da Orta's Goan publication. The last entry was a treatise on the Asian elephant, probably the first to be published in Europe. It was also among the first works to record words from the Basque language.
Cristóvão da Costa is believed to have been born somewhere in Africa, possibly in Tangier, Ceuta (both Portuguese cities at the time), or in Portuguese Cape Verde, since in his work he claims to be African | Price: | €14000 | Images: | No images available |
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