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Historical Bibliography Updated: May 4, 2018

Aderlasskalender.

Publication Details

Mainz, 1456 CE.

The Aderlasskalender for the year 1457, also known as the Laxierkalender, was issued in Mainz, printed in the type of the 36-line Bible, presumably in 1456. It survives in only one incomplete copy in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (ISTC No. ia00051700). This is the earliest surviving printed medical or scientific work. 

"Bleeding- and purgation-calendars, which gave details of the lucky and unlucky days on which to bleed or take medicine in a given year, were popular in the Middle Ages. They maintained their popularity with the coming of the printed book. According to Osler, 'forty-six of these bleeding-and purgation-calendars were printed before 1480; one hundred of them before 1501 have been collected. . . .' The Mainz Kalendar for 1457 is much more a purgation-than a bleeding-calendar" (Berry & Poole, Annals of Printing [1966] 13).

 

Catalog MetadataReference Information
Entry Number#6818
Permanent Linkhttps://hom-sveltekit.fly.dev/entry/8981
External URLaderlasskalender-

Geographic Context

Publication place: Mainz