Note 6 — Chapter VIII · THE PERIOD OF THE RENAISSANCE AND THE REFORMATION.
Reading edition
The first edition, dedicated to Cardinal Alexander Farnese, has the following title-page: “Artis Gymnasticæ apud Antiquos celeberrimæ, nostris temporibus ignoratæ, Libri Sex. In quibus exercitationum omnium vetustarum genera, loca, modi, facultates & quicquid denique ad corporis humani exercitationes pertinet, diligenter explicatur. Opus non modo medicis, verum etiam omnibus antiquarum rerum cognoscendarum, & valetudinis conservandæ studiosis admodum utile. Palæstræ descriptio ex Vetruvio sub litera B. Auctore Hieronymo Mercuriali Foroliviensi, Medico & Philosopho. Venetiis, Apud Juntas. MDLXIX.” The second edition, like the third and the fourth, is illustrated, and dedicated to Emperor Maximilian II. The title-page is changed to read: “Hieronymi Mercurialis de arte gymnastica Libri Sex, in quibus exercitationum ... admodum utile (as in first edition). Secunda editione aucti, & multis figuris ornati. Ad Maximilianum II. Imperatorem. Venetiis apud Juntas, MDLXXIII.” The Paris issue of this second edition substitutes the words “Parisiis, Apud Jacobum du Puys, via Joannis Lateranensis, sub signo Samaritanæ. 1577.” The third edition (“Tertia editione correctiores, & auctiores facti”) was published “Venetiis, MDLXXXVII. Apud Juntas,” and the fourth edition (“Quarta editione correctiores, & auctiores facti”), “Venetiis, apus Juntas. MDCI.”
The title-page of the Amsterdam edition reads: “Hieronymi Mercurialis Foroliviensis de Arte Gymnastica Libri Sex: in quibus exercitationum omnium vetustarum genera, loca, modi, facultates, & quidquid denique ad corporis humani exercitationes pertinet diligenter explicatur. Editio novissima, aucta, emendata, & figuris authenticis Christophori Coriolani exornata. Amstelodami, Sumptibus Andreæ Frisii,” (1672).
In this connection may be mentioned also “The Muscles and Their Story, from the Earliest Times; including the Whole Text of Mercurialis, and the Opinions of Other Writers Ancient and Modern, on Mental and Bodily Development. By John W. F. Blundell, M.D., Licentiate of the Royal College of Edinburgh, Author of ‘Medicina Mechanica,’ etc.” London, Chapman & Hall, 1864.