First edition of a 2000-page pharmaceutical dictionary compiled by the Dutch physician and poet Kornelis Elzevier (1717-1761). It uses the Latin terms for an enormous number of compounds and substances, with brief remarks in Dutch on their preparation and effectiveness. For various medicaments Elzevier mentions his sources, which include Cordus, Mesue, Mynsicht, Wecker and various other lexicons and pharmacopoeias. The engraved frontispiece shows an apothecary where the personifications of Truth and Experience expell Superstition and Stupidity. On the floor lie several books by popular physicians like Boerhaave, Dodonaeus, Lobel and Lemery, with on the background busts of Hippocrates, Galen and Paracelsus.
Small corner torn off half-title of first volume, some marginal water stains, and foxing and marginal thumbing throughout. Binding heavily discoloured on spine and partly on the sides, otherwise in good condition and wholly untrimmed, leaving ample margins. Blake, p. 135; STCN (5 copies); Wellcome II, p. 522; WorldCat (9 copies).