Venezia, apud Francesco De Franceschi, 1595. In-8, pp. [8] 199 [13]. Small octavo (16 x 10 cm). 8 leaves, 199 (paginated) leaves, 25 unnumbered pages (index), 1 leaf (Errate sic corrige). Complete. Contemporary overlapping vellum with handwritten spine titles and 4 leather-band straps, but only 1 full lenght functionally. Interior minimally rubbed and bumped, slightly stained and dusty. 1st edition, Very Rare!!! Ex-libris on the first bookplate belonging to Georg Christoph Petri von Hartenfels, who was a 17 century notable physician and polymath, professor, and later the Rector of the University of Erfurt. The treatise under title De morbis veneficis ac veneficiis (On Poisoning Witches and Spells), published in 1595 in Venice by the physician Giovan Battista Codronchi (1547–1628), is a significant, is rare 16th-century work focusing on the intersection of medicine and demonology. Codronchi wrote the treatise to analyze "diabolical illnesses" (specifically regarding his daughter) and to define the roles of physicians versus exorcists in cases of presumed poisoning or witchcraft. (Akademia.edu) Author has an extensive account of the present work is given by Thorndike who deals with its role in the history of witchcraft. Codronchi (1547-1628) was a physician from Imola, whose works according to Hirsch all show deep knowledge and originality. Bibliographie: USTC No.823353; Caillet, 2435, Dorbon (Bibliotheca Esoterica), 829; Yvesa Plessis, 224; Graesse (Bibliotheca Magica et Pneumatica), Chapter VIII: "Von den Zauberkrankheiten" (On diseases caused by witchcraft); Garrison & Morton, A Medical Bibliography, 1718; Cornell University Library Witchcraft Collection, 114, Thorndike, VI; Hansen, "Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Hexenwahns; Bibliotheca Osleriana, 2343; OCLC: 165994812. "Plessis, like Caillet, appreciates Codronchi for his attempt to systematize medical knowledge in the forensic service (recognizing whether a given case is a natural disease or the effect of "maleficia".(Plessis) "Grässe appreciated this work as one of the first systematic treatises in which a physician attempted to provide scientific (for that time) criteria for distinguishing natural diseases from the effects of "magical poisons".(Graesse) "Garrison and Morton mention De morbis veneficis... They indicate that it was this work on poisons and witchcraft, published two years earlier, that prepared the ground for the later treatise on forensic medicine". (Garrison and Morton). Provenance: Ex-libris on the first bookplate belonging to Georg Christoph Petri von Hartenfels, who was a 17 century notable physician and polymath, professor, and later the Rector of the University of Erfurt. Book is bound with: Bartholomäus Carrichter: Kräuterbuch. Darinnen begriffen, under welchen zeichen Zodiaci, auch in welchem Gradu ein jedes Kraut stehe, wie sie in Leib unnd zu allen Schäden zu bereyten, und zu welcher zeit sie zu colligieren sein. Anton Bertram 1589. Kl.-8° (16 x 10 cm). 8 Bll., 223(1) S., 8.