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De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare interior highlight of the 1725 - wine book.
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  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare interior highlight of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare photograph of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare image of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare interesting detail of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare example image of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare detail view of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare notable image of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare detail of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare illustrated detail of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare highlighted image of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare notable image of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare interior highlight of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare photograph of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare image of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare interesting detail of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare example image of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare detail view of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare notable image of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare detail of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare illustrated detail of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare highlighted image of the 1725 - wine book.
  • De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio by Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio, a rare notable image of the 1725 - wine book.
De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio

Hot wine heals - or harms - on the path towards Enlightenment medicine.

Davini, Giovanni Battista; Vallisneri, Antonio

De Potu Vini Calidi Dissertatio
Auctore Johanne Baptista Davini Serenissimi Raynaldi I Mutinae, Regii, Mirandulae, & Ducis, Medico. Editio Secunda Accessit Dissertatio Clarissimi Vallisnerii, Cui Titulus Dell'Uso E Dell'Abuso Delle Bevande, E Bagnature Calde O Fredde.

1725, Mantova (Mutinae), Typis Antonii Capponi Impr. Ep.

2nd Edition

$600 USD

Overview

Second Edition. De potu vini calidi is a scholarly medical dissertation exploring the benefits and dangers of consuming warm wine. Drawing on classical authorities like Galen and Hippocrates, Davini blends ancient views with Enlightenment-era empirical observation to examine how warm wine affects the body’s humoral balance.

Inside the book

Davini's core thesis is that warm wine can aid digestion and circulation when used properly, but may be harmful if consumed in excess or by those with certain conditions.
Engaging in intellectual dialogue with contemporaries like Antonio Vallisneri, Davini contrasts warm wine with balneotherapy (hot baths), debating the contexts in which each is beneficial. Unlike the broader, encyclopedic scope of Meydenbach’s 15th-century Ortus Sanitatis, which cataloged medicinal plants, animals, and minerals, Davini’s work is a focused investigation into a single therapeutic practice. His treatise reflects a pivotal moment in early modern medicine, when empirical reasoning began to influence traditionally Galenic frameworks, marking a shift toward more evidence-based approaches.
The second pagination includes, as declared by the frontispiece as a special feature of this second edition: "Dell’Uso e dell’abuso delle bevande e bagnarure calde o fredde by Antonio Vallisnieri pubblico primario professore di medicina Teorica di Padova, e medico di camera di S.M. Cesarea Cattlica &c, all'illustrissimo sig. marchese Don Diego de Araciel" in Italian (with some minor parts in Latin).

Why La Fenice chose it

Wine as therapy, isn't it marvellous? A rare medical treatise that takes wine seriously, probing whether a warm glass soothes or sabotages the body. A reminder that even in 1725, the line between medicine and pleasure could be deliciously thin.
Condition Report

Pp. [1] f.e., [4], 75, 196, [1] r.e.

Modern half vellum binding, manuscript title on spine, boards covered in decorative wood-like paper. Small stamp at lower margin of title page. Woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. A few insignificant ink stains and foxing. Lacking the errata corrige leaf noted by SBN.

Dimensions (inches): 8 x 6 x 1
About the author

Giovanni Battista Davini (17th–18th c.), Modenese physician, author on wine’s effects.
Antonio Vallisneri (1661–1730), Italian naturalist and physician.

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