Cleaned, restored and recently rebound in brown buckskin, together with a 1966 reprint, a rare 1495 Venetian first of Avicenna’s Metaphysica made €26,000 (£22,260) in a Reiss & Sohn (18% buyer’s premium) sale of May 16-18. The price was slightly under estimate but a record nonetheless.
In this work, the Persian polymath and philosopher Abu Ali ibn Sina (c.980-1037) attempted to “…integrate all aspects of science and religion in a grand metaphysical vision and thus explain the formation of the universe and elucidate the problems of evil, prayer, providence, prophecies, miracles and marvels”.
That summation is taken from a catalogue entry prepared for the 2001 Sotheby’s sale at £13,000 of a copy (once owned by the 17th century diplomat and natural philosopher Sir Kenelm Digby) that formed part of the extensive JRR Ritman collections.