Facets

c. 900

#6817

The Nicetas codex.

The earliest surviving illustrated surgical codex was written and illuminated in Constantinople for the Byzantine physician Niketas (Nicetas) about 900 CE. It contains 30 full-page images illustrating the commentary o…

1465

#6819

Cerrahiyyetu'l-Haniyye (Imperial Surgery)

In 1465, at the age of 80, Ottoman surgeon and physician Şerafeddin Sabuncuoğlu published in manuscript an illustrated atlas of surgery and dentistry. This was also the first medical textbook written in Turkish, proba…

1478

#7086

Halieutica, sive de piscatu. [Translated by Lorenzo Lippi, with recipes for cooking added by Lippi.]

The didactic poem on fish and fishing by Oppian of Anazarbus, a 2nd-century Greco-Roman poet, survived the Middle Ages essentially in its entirety, consisting of 3500 lines in Greek. The poem was dedicated to the empe…

1491

#363

Fasciculus medicinae. Add: Petrus de Tussignano: Consilium pro peste evitanda.

A collection of short medical treatises which circulated widely in manuscript, some as early as the 13th century, and was perhaps attributed by the printers to its former owner, Johannes von Kirchheim, a professor of …

1491

#6314

Versehung des Leibs.

Written in 1429, this didactic poem is the first known text to be devoted to the normal physiology and common illnesses of children. It was written in old Swabian, and its author was a monk. The poem was probably inte…

1493 –1494

#363.1

Fascicolo di medicina. Tr: Sebastianus Manilius. Add: Petrus de Tussignano: Consilium pro peste evitanda. Mundinus: Anatomia (Ed: Petrus Andreas Morsianus).

This Italian translation contains an entirely new and more extensive series of woodcuts and additional text. The dramatically improved and more realistic illustrations, which were reproduced in the numerous later edit…

1497

#5559

Das ist das buch der Cirurgia

The first important printed surgical treatise in German. It combines a compilation of the ancient and medieval authorities with Brunschwig’s own extensive experience. It contains the first detailed account of gunshot …

1499

#363.2

Philosophie naturalis compendium.

The last section of this commentary on Aristotle is an illustrated summary of anatomy, the text of which was derived, with some modifications, from medieval manuscripts. The series of eleven woodcuts has been called “…

1501

#363.3

Antropologium de ho[min]is dignitate, natura, et p[ro]prietatibus.

Includes the first illustrations of the viscera in a printed book. The four woodcuts are derived with modifications from Peyligk (No. 363.2). This work also contains the first mention ever of the word anthropology (in…

1521

#367

Commentaria cum amplissimis additionibus super anatomia Mundini una cum textu ejusdem in pristinum et verum nitorem redacto.

Giacomo Berengario da Carpi (Jacobus Berengarius Carpensis, Jacopo Barigazzi, Giacomo Berengario da Carpi or simply Carpus) introduced iconography and independent anatomical observation into the teaching of anatomy. H…

1522

#368

Isagoge breves perlucide ac uberime in anatomiam humani corporis a communi medicorum academia usitatam.

One year after publishing his Commentary on Mondino, Giacomo Berengario da Carpi issued an abbreviated version or Isagoge, with most of the same woodcuts. This was the book by which Berengario's contributions to anato…

1528

#149

Vier Bücher von menschlicher Proportion.

Written, designed, and illustrated by Dürer, this work is notable for its extraordinary series of anthropometrical woodcuts. The first two books deal with the proper proportions of the human form; the third changes th…

1530

#2364

Syphilis sive morbus gallicus.

The most famous of all medical poems. It epitomized contemporary knowledge of syphilis, gave to it its present name, and recognized a venereal cause. Fracastorius refers to mercury as a remedy. First complete English …

1531

#7627

Tacuini sanitatis Elluchasem Elimithar Medici de Baldath, de sex rebus non naturalibus, earum naturis, operationibus, & rectificationibus, publico omnium usui, conseruandae sanitatis, recens exarati. Albengnefit De uirtutibus medicinarum, & ciborum. Iac. Alkindus De rerum gradibus.

A Christian physician of Baghdad, Ibn Butlān traveled widely, eventually settling in Antioch. His treatise on hygiene and dietetics, Taqwām al-sihhah (The Almanac of Health) presented a guide to medical regimen in tab…

1536

#370

Anatomia capitis humani.

The first work on the anatomy of the head. Elegantly illustrated with 11 woodcuts. English translation in No. 461.3.

1537

#371

Anatomiae, hoc est, corporis humani dissectionis pars prior.

Dryander was among the first to make illustrations after his own dissections. His unfinished guide to dissection entitled Anatomiae, expanded from the Anatomia published the previous year, is one of the most important…

1538

#372

Tabulae anatomicae sex.

Vesalius’ first anatomical publication, consisting of six oversized anatomical charts, resembling fugitive sheets. The three skeletal woodcuts are signed by the artist, Jan Stephan van Calcar, who also acted as the pu…

1540

#6139

The byrth of mankynde.

The first English treatise on midwifery, translated by Richard Jonas from the 1532 Latin translation by Roesslin the Younger (De partu hominis) of Roesslin's work (1513). The 1540 English edition was illustrated with …

1541

#373

Musculorum humani corporis picturata dissectio.

The first book in which each muscle was illustrated separately, with copper-plates of the bones and muscles of the upper limb from drawings by Girolamo da Carpi, which in realism and exactitude surpassed anything betw…

1541

#373.1

Des aller fürtrefflichsten…erschaffen. Das is des menchen…warhafftige beschreibung oder Anatomi…

This plagiarism of Vesalius’s Tabulae anatomicae sex contains 25 woodcuts by Hans Baldung Grien (1484/1485-1545), and represents the artist’s only contribution to medical illustration. The woodcuts include the best il…

1543

#376

Suorum de humani corporis fabrica librorum epitome.

Shortly after publishing his encyclopedic De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, Vesalius issued De humani corporis fabrica epitome, also from the press of Johannes Oporinus of Basel. This thin set of 14 unnumbered …

1543

#375

De humani corporis fabrica libri septem.

Published when the author was only 29 years old, the Fabrica revolutionized not only the science of anatomy but how it was taught. Throughout this encylopedic work on the structure and workings of the human body, Vesa…

1544

#4406.1

Chirurgia e graeco in latinum conversa.

This elegantly printed and illustrated small folio included 210 text woodcuts, most probably after drawings by the school of Francesco Salviati (Francesco de'Rossi). It was issued from the press operated by Pierre Gau…

1545

#376.1

Compendiosa totius anatomie delineatio, aere exarata.

Compendiosa totius anatomie delineatio by Belgian engraver, mathematical and surgical instrument maker, Thomas Geminus (Thomas Lambert or Lambrit) was a slightly abridged version of Vesalius's Epitome illustrated with…

1545

#378

De dissectione partium corporis humani.

De dissectione partium corporis humani libri tres by French physician, writer, and translator, Charles Estienne, of the Estienne printing dynasty, is one of the most interesting woodcut books of the French Renaissance…

1551

#378.01

Libro de la anathomia del hombre.

The first Spanish anatomy book in the Spanish language, the second anatomy book ever published in Spain, and the work that introduced Vesalian illustrations to Spain. The text is a version of Henri de Mondeville’s med…

1554

#463

Ein schön lustig Trostbüchle von den Empfengknussen und Geburten der Menschen…

An improved version of Rösslin’s Swangern frawen. This contains the first true anatomical pictures in an obstetrics book. Rueff described smooth-edged forceps for delivery of a live baby, preceding Chamberlen, and a t…

1555

#377

De humani corporis fabrica libri septem.

Containing Vesalius’s final published revisions of the text, this edition is also superior for its enlarged format, improved typography and printing, better paper, larger woodcut initials, and changes to the lettering…

1556

#378.02

Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano…

Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano Spanish physician Juan Valverde de Amusco was issued in Rome at the press of Antonio Salamanca. This was the first great original medical book in Spanish and the most origi…

1559

#378.1

De re anatomica libri xv.

Colombo was a pupil of Vesalius, and succeeded him in the chair of anatomy at Padua before proceeding to chairs first at Pisa and later at Rome. His book, published just after his death, rectified a number of anatomic…

1563 –1564

#1093

Opuscula anatomica.

Eustachius is credited with several anatomical discoveries, among them the tensor tympani muscle and the Eustachian tube, published in his chapter entitled De auditus organis. In the last respect, however, he was anti…

1575

#4964

Examen de ingenios para las ciencias.

Huarte was a distinguished Spanish physician and psychologist. His Examen, which gained for him a European reputation, was the first attempt to show the connection between psychology and physiology. English translatio…

1575

#284

Lectiones Gabrielis Falloppi de partibus similaribus humani corporis, ex diversis exemplari eus a Volchero Coiter summa cum diligentia collecta. His accessere diversorum animalium sceletorum explicationes iconibus artificiosis, et genuinis illustratae.

Coiter, a pupil of Fallopius and Eustachius, became town physician of Nuremberg. His book on comparative osteology, contained in his edition of the lectures of Fallopius, extended his studies begun in his work of 1572…

1585

#7595

Anatomicae praelectiones.

First description of a clear distinction between what is now known as gray and white matter in the central nervous system. The work also includes the first attempt to illustrate the brain in a sagittal view. The nine …

1588

#13546

De medico hebraeo: Enarratio apologica ... Apposita sunt praeterea, non paucorum amplissimorum principum, quam multa decreta, in hebraeorum fauorem constituta. Annectuntur, quinetiam, in tractatus calce, nonnulla aurea dicta; ex priscorum hebraeorum monumentis excerpta; nunc primum, latinitate donata, & ad studiosorum vtilitatem, in lucem edita. Dauid de Pomis, medico physico hebraeo, auctore.

De Pomis was a rabbi and physician. "... on account of the edict of Pius IV forbidding Jewish physicians to attend Christians (1555), he moved from town to town in Italy before he settled in 1569 in Venice, where he p…

1598

#285

Dell’anotomia, et dell’infermità del cavallo.

In 1598 Conte Ottavio Ruini edited and had published in Bologna, with a dedication to Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, Dell'anotomia [sic], et dell'infirmita del cavallo [Book ii: Dell'infirmita del cavallo] by il marche…

1598

#12829

Discursos del amparo de los legitimos pobres y reduccion de los fingidos, y de la fundacion y principio de los albergues destos Reynos, y amparo de la milicia dellos.

In this rather utopian work with emblematic illustrations Pérez presented a plan for a state funded public health system and poor relief program. His ten essays concerned hospital sanitation, kitchen gardens, care of …

1600 –1601

#1540

De vocis auditusque organis historia anatomica. 2 pts.

Casseri, originally a servant to Fabrizio, was personally trained by his employer and eventually succeeded to Fabrizio’s chair of anatomy. Like Fabrizio, who studied the development of the chick for clues to human emb…

1608

#8002

Il vero modo et ordine per dissegnar tutte le parti et membra del corpo humano.

An entirely etched book of 40 leaves, drawn and etched by Fialetti, this was probably the first printed manual on drawing the human body, as distinct from earlier manuals on anatomy for artists. For further informatio…

1611

#380

De anatome corporis humani libri vii.

Guidi, professor of philosophy and medicine at Pisa, discovered the Vidian nerve, the Vidian canal, and the Vidian artery. The above was edited by his nephew.

1613

#11237

Catoptri micorcosmici absolutam admirandae partium hominis creaturarum divinarum praestantissimi fabricae eximio artificio sculptam structuram revidendam exhibentis. Engraved by Stephan Michelspacher.

Three large anatomical plates with numerous flaps, in the tradition of fugitive sheets, but larger and more complex. The first edition was issued anonymously without identifying the place of publication or the publish…

1623

#10491

Historia vitae & mortis. Sive, titulus secundus in historia naturali & experimentali ad condendam philosophiam: Quae est instaurationis magnae pars tertia.

This was Bacon's direct contribution to medicine or medical philosophy, with natural and experimental observations on the prolongation of life. Translated into English as The History naturall And experimentall, of lif…

1627

#381

Tabulae anatomicae lxxiix.

First publication of the very beautiful copperplates engraved by Francesco Valesio after Odoardo Fialetti, a pupil of Titian. Casseri commissioned these plates covering the whole field of human anatomy for his unfinis…

1627

#1094

De lactibus sive lacteis venis.

Records the discovery of the lacteal vessels. While performing vivisection on a dog that had recently fed, Aselli noticed a network of vessels in the mesentery and along the peritoneal surface of the intestine. The ve…

1634

#381.1

Anatomie der uuterlicke deelen van het menschelick lichaem: Dienende om te verstaen ende volkometlick wt te beelden alle beroerlicheit des selven lichaems.

The earliest of all independent works on anatomy for graphic or plastic artists. The author, a painter and etcher, drew and engraved all the images himself. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

1640

#13009

Monochordon symbolico-biomanticum. Abstrusissimam pulsuum doctrinam, ex harmoniis musicis dilucidè, figurisq[ue] oculariter demonstrans, de causis & prognosticis inde promulgandis fideliter instruens, & jucundè per Medicam praxin resonans.

Hafenreffer believed that the sound of music could assist in regulating an abnormal pulse by means of vibrating air. His book included graphic representations of irregular pulses. Digital facsimile from Bayerische Sta…

1642

#6612.9

Religio medici.

The most famous work of English literature written by a physician. Browne did not intend to have it published, but manuscripts of the work circulated privately. Two unauthorized and inaccurate editions were issued sur…

1645

#61.2

Opera quae extant omnia. Ex recension Joh. Antonidae vander Linden.

Spieghel succeeded Casseri in the chair of anatomy at Padua. This edition of his collected writings contains the second printing of the 97 copperplates first printed in Casseri’s Tabulae anatomicae (No. 381) plus 9 ex…

1651

#382

Corporis humani disquisitio anatomica.

Highmore is remembered for his description of the maxillary sinus, known eponymically as the “antrum of Highmore” (already noticed by Casserius and figured by Leonardo da Vinci), the seminal ducts and the epididymis. …

1655

#10146

Prae-Adamitae, sive exercitatio super versibus duodecimo, decimotertio, & decimoquarto, capitis quinti Epistolae D. Pauli ad Romanos: Quibus inducuntur primi homines ante Adamum conditi.

"In his Prae-Adamitae, published in Latin in 1655 and in English as Men Before Adam in 1656, La Peyrère argued that Paul's words in Chapter 5, verses 12-14 of his Epistle to the Romans should be interpreted such that …