Rare Spanish Medical Text
Bravo de Sobremonte, 1651
BRAVO DE SOBREMONTE, Gaspar (1603-1683). Repetitio siue praelectiones Vallis-oletanae de purgandi ratione. Valladolid: Bartolomé Pórtoles, 1651.

Very rare medical work by an early Spanish defender of Harvey’s views on the circulation of the blood. Born into a noble Spanish family, Bravo de Sobremonte studied in Palencia and Valladolid, where he took his doctorate in medicine in 1637. He was soon appointed professor at the university, a position that he held with success and prestige until 1659, when he became royal physician to Philip IV and Carlos II. Bravo de Sobremonte was an advocate of the “moderate Galenist” school of medicine that accepted modern discoveries—like Harvey’s research on the circulation of the blood—as minor corrections to traditional medical doctrines not affecting their general validity. The present work was the doctor’s second published book. No auction records can be traced; only one institutional copy is recorded in WorldCat, at the National Library of Spain. See J.R. Palmero, “Gabriel Bravo de Sobremonte,” in Real Academia de la Historia, Diccionario Biográfico electrónico (online).

Quarto (200 x 139mm). Armorial in ink on title page (heavily browned throughout; repaired dampstains on preliminary leaves and final index leaves, with occasional small losses to text). Contemporary limp vellum, ink titling on spine, printed waste endpapers, remnants of leather ties (endcaps renewed, a little soiled; Zambrano library labels); in modern clam-shell box. Provenance: ownership inscription [Baltasar Puigjaner?] on front flyleaf signed and dated Sabadell, 1740.