(Born: Ferrara, Italy, 1430; Died: Ferrara, Italy, 1499) Italian physician.

Ariostus was a physician and professor of civil law at the University of Ferrara.

Biographical references: ABI: I 71, 273-282; II 24, 309. • Dizionario Biografico Italiani: 4, 169-71 [by M. Quattrucci]. • Jöcher, Gelehrten-Lexikon, 1750-51: 1, col. 533. • Mazzuchelli, Gli Scrittori d'Italia, 1753-63. • Poggendorff: 1, col. 61. • WBI.

De Oleo Montis Zibinii, 1690

1. Latin, 1690 [First edition].
Francisci Ariosti | De | Oleo | Mon- | tis Zibinii | Seu | Petroloeo Agri | Mutinensis | Libellus | E Manuscriptis membranis | editus | ab | Olig. Jacobæo. | [ornament] | [rule] | Hafniæ, Literis Reg. Maj. & Univ. Typogr. | Joh. Phil. Bockenhoffer, 1690.

8°: [1]-79, [3] p.

Contents: [1-2], Title page, verso blank.; [3]-8, Dedication.; 9-12, Preface.; 13-17, Biographical sketch of Ariosto.; 18-76, Text.; 77-79, Letter of recommendation, dated December 1462.; [1 pg], Blank.; [2 pgs], Index.

Very rare. One of the earliest published texts devoted to the subject of petroleum, this curious tract was published from manuscript material written over two centuries earlier. Oligerus Jacobæus, the editor, dedictates the work to the famous Italian bibliophile Antonio Magliabecchi [1633-1714]. Pages 9-12 contains "a preface to the reader giving some account of this mineral oil, or naphtha, found at Mons Zibius, Gybius, or Zilius, in the Modenesse territory, comparing it with naphtha from India and indicating certain analogies with amber. There is next a short biographical sketch-in Italian-of Ariostus, written by Antonio Libanori and communicated by Magliabecchi. The tract itself (pp. 18-38) gives an account of the oil, and then (pp. 38-76) a description of cures effected by the use of it. The work concludes (pp. 77-79) with a presentation letter from Ariostus to Duke Borsius dated December, 1462, and the Duke's reply, after with is the Index." (Ferguson).

Other editions: An enlarged edition appeared in 1698: Francisci Ariosti De Oleo Montis Zibinii, seu Petroleo agri Mutinensis. Libellus e Manuscriptis Membranis Editus ab Oligero Jacobæo ... Nunc Autem ad fidem Codicis M. S. ex Bibliotheca Estensi Recognitus, et Recusus ... Mutinae, Typis Antonii Capponi, 1698. 2 parts, 12°: [8], 67, [3], 35 p. [NUC: 20, 482, NA 0397921]. Another edition appeared in 1713: De Oleo Montis Zibinii ... cum Bernhardus Ramazzini Libro de Fontibus Mutinensibus. Patavii, 1713. 8°: [16], 248 p., one folding plate.

Bibliographical references: BL [B.655.(6)]. • Ferguson, Bibliotheca Chemica, 1906: 1, 41. • Gatterer, Mineralogischen Literatur, 1798-9: 2, 150-1. • Jonathan Hill, Bookseller: cat. 16, no. 9. • LKG: XVI 262. • NLM 17th Century Books (Krivatsy): no. ??. • NUC [no copy listed]. • Wellcome Catalog (Books): 2, p. 55.

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