Initia doctrinae physicae. Dictata in Academia Witebergensi [bound with:] Liber de anima

Leipzig: [Johannes Rhamba], 1565. First title page with ornamental border; second work with woodcut medallion portrait of Melanchthon on title. Ff. [8], 194, [5, index], [1, blank]; [160]. 1 vols. 8vo. Contemporary pigskin stamped in blind, boards with central pious motifs (upper board Maledictus qui …; lower board with crucifixion and legend Ecce Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi). Some rubbing, old shelf marks. Maryland Episcopal and GTS stamps and bookplates. Very good. First title page with ornamental border; second work with woodcut medallion portrait of Melanchthon on title. Ff. [8], 194, [5, index], [1, blank]; [160]. 1 vols. 8vo. Early posthumus editions of Melanchthon’s scientfic treatise, in the second edition of which (1558) he acknowledged the usefulness of the Copernican system and the movement of the earth about the sun (in the 1549 edition he had denounced the heliocentric model of Copernicus; bound with Melanchthon’s work on the human soul, which takes into account the anatomical work of Vesalius in De Humani corporis fabrica (1543). Both works became standard texts at Protestant universities in Germany. VD 16 M3478 and M2769 (Inventory #: 371240)