An ornate woodcut headpiece ornament features elaborate scrolls, foliage, and three stylized faces or masks integrated into the design.

OF BOOKSELLERS

To the Most Humane Reader

P R E F A C E.

An ornate woodcut initial letter 'H' features floral and scrollwork designs.Most humane Reader, among the countless writers of the past century, scarcely any occurs whose monuments have been received and celebrated by all the learned with greater applause and an affectation of admiration than those of Girolamo Cardano of Milan, a most noble Professor of Medicine. This is deservedly so, unless we are greatly mistaken, whether you consider the manifold erudition in which he abundantly abounds, or the very rare and superhuman perspicacity which he displays, or finally the philosophical parrhesia frankness/freedom of speech with which his works are seasoned as if with a most pleasing sauce. Because of this, the author himself has deserved to be called by some men of great name the Greatest Dictator of Letters, by others an Incomparable Man, and by others a Prodigy of Talent. Since, therefore, we discovered that almost everyone was thirsting for his Works, and since they were partly not easy to find, and partly published in a most corrupted state, with not a few never before brought to light, we were moved to gather all of these, both published and unpublished, from wherever possible, and at our own expense, for the sake of the public good, to commit them to the press in a more august form, most acceptable to libraries. While we were undertaking this, the many difficulties that soon presented themselves almost stopped this honest endeavor of ours. Nevertheless, timely supported by the advice of studious men, we continued to hold to the course we had begun, especially with the friendly favor of Charles Spon, a physician of our city. For he was not at all reluctant to bestow a certain economy upon so many and such varied lucubrations of Cardano. In this business, even though he proposed to follow to some extent in the footsteps of the great Gabriel Naudé, for the most part he did not hesitate to apply his own ingenuity. How successfully he did this, we leave to the judgment of candid critics. This is the plan of the entire Bibliotaxia arrangement of the library instituted by him. First of all, the Philological works are placed in the front, together with the Logical and Moral ones. These are immediately followed by those pertaining to Physiology. Subjoined are the Mathematical works of various kinds, such as Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, Astronomy, Astrology, and Dream Interpretation. Afterward, the Medicinal works succeed. Finally, the Miscellaneous works close the line, patched together from Fragments and Omissions. Since, however, all these things were to be digested into ten Tomes or Volumes in such proportion that a certain equality of due bulk might be maintained in each, it should seem strange to no one if the first tome claims one part of the Moral works for itself, while the second claims another