LAMZWEERDE, Jan Baptist van (fl. 1657- c. 1700)

First edition – This book, on the physiology and effects of respiration, borrowed the name of the author’s compatriot Jan Swammerdam for its title, and is described by Hirsch as ”ein schändliches Libell, worin die Aristotelische und scholastische Auffassung des Athmens vertheidigt, die Cartesische bestritten wird.” (in which the Aristotelian and scholastic perception of respiration is defended, and the Cartesian contested.) According to Lindeboom, the success of the book was little, which would account for its present rarity. It is illustrated by some striking illustrations. Osler grouped this book with Swammerdam’s in the Bibliotheca Prima.

Collation: Pp. (32) including engraved frontispiece by C. Decker, 352. With 16 full-page engravings numbered I-XVI. Paper browned but still crisp, single tiny wormhole throughout.

Binding: Contemporary mottled sheep, spine gilt, small piece missing from head and tail of spine.