1490–1499

1490 CE

#8438

Galeni Opera. Edited by Diomedes Bonardus. Translated from the Greek by Nicolaus de Regio, Marcus Toletanus, Petrus de Abano, Accursius Pistoriensis, Guilelmus de Moerbeka, Burgundio of Pisa, Gerardus Cremonensis and Constantinus Africanus. With poem to the author of Johannes Pyrrhus Pincius. 2 vols.

The first printed edition of Galen's writings pulled together texts from numerous translators. ISTC No. ig00037000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

1490 CE

#5553

La chirurgie da Lanfranc traduit du latin par Guillaume Yvoire.

Lanfranc, the founder of French surgery, was a pupil of William of Salicet. He enjoyed a great reputation for his lecturing and bedside teaching. His Chirurgia magna was completed in 1296. According to Hirsch and othe…

1490 CE

#47

Liber Teisir, sive rectificatio medicationis et regiminis. Antidotarium. Translated from Arabic into Hebrew by Jacobus Hebraeus; into Latin by Paravicius. Add: Averroes: Colliget.

This is a Latin translation from a Hebrew version dating from 1280. Avenzoar, the greatest Muslim physician of the Western Caliphate, described the itch-mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, serous pericarditis, mediastinal absces…

1490 CE

#6949

Philosophia pauperum, sive Isagoge in libros Aristotelis physicorum, de coelo et mundo, de generatione et corruptione, meteororum et de anima.

This edition, chronologically the fourth printed, of Albertus's commentaries on various works of Aristotle, contains the first printed illustration of the brain, showing in profile the three-cell theory of brain funct…

1491 CE

#11871

Corona florida medicinae, sive De conservatione sanitatis.

A popular guide to healthy living, dealing with such topics as sleep, exercise, sex, hygiene, drugs, and especially diet, with an emphasis on the qualities and properties of foods, including their cooking and preparat…

1491 CE

#4511.01

De omnibus ingeniis augendae memoriae.

An early work on memory disorders and aids to memory. ISTC no. ia00210000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

1491 CE

#9145

Expositio in primam et secundam fen primi Canonis Avicennae by Hugo Senensis. Edited by Antonius Cittadinus Faventinus. With: Quaestio de febre by Antonius Cittadinus.

ISTC No. ih54000.

1491 CE

#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 CE

#1797

Hortus sanitatis.

HORTUS SANITATIS

First edition of an herbal and general treatise on natural history which became very popular; based on the unusually large number of surviving copies in institutions it must have also been a bestseller. The plant illu…

1491 CE

#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…

1492 CE

#1798

De Plinii et plurium aliorum in medicina erroribus.

A correction of the botanical errors of Pliny. Remembering the times in which Leoniceno lived, Garrison considers this work “a feat of the rarest intellectual courage”. It was accepted by later botanists a…

1492 CE

#7791

De venenis. Ed: Dominicus de Canali.

Compiled in the years, 1424-1426, from Greek, Arabic and Latin works on medicine and nature. "Although Ardoini quotes previous authors at great length, his work is no mere compilation, since he does not hesitate to di…

1492 CE

#42

Liber medicinae, sive Regalis dispositio. Tr: Stephanus Antiochenus. Ed: Antonius Vitalis.

The Almaleki, or Liber regius, of Haly Abbas was the leading treatise on medicine for a hundred years, when it was displaced by Avicenna’s Canon. This was the only edition printed in the 15th century. ISTC No. i…

1492 CE

#2191

Rosa anglica practica medicinae. Ed: Nicolaus Scyllacius.

The first printed medical book of an Englishman. John of Gaddesden was a prebendary of St. Paul’s Cathedral and physician to Edward II. The work, to quote Garrison, “consists mainly of Arabist quackeries a…

1492 CE

#1960

Thesaurus pauperum. [Italian:] Tesoro de poveri. Tr: Zucchero Bencivenni.

One of the most popular medical books of the Middle Ages; first written about 1260. After its first printing about 1492 it was reprinted many times in the next 100 years. "Petrus Hispanus was the only practicing physi…

1493 CE

#9143

Expositio super Aphorismos Hippocratis et Galeni commentum.

ISTC No. ih00540000

1493 CE

#3666.84

Practica. IN: Liber nonus ad Almansorem (cum expositione Joannis Arculani). Ed: Hieronymus Surianus and Elyanorus Sanseverinus.

Arcolani's Practica, published in this edition of Rhazes with Arcolani's commentary, includes the first documentation for the use of gold for filling diseased teeth. There are also several chapters on diseases of the …

1493 CE–1494 CE

#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…

1495 CE

#6137.1

Büchlein der schwangeren Frauen.

The first obstetrical book printed in the vernacular. Facsimile edition, Munich, 1910. Ortoloff also wrote the first German pharmacopoeia. See No. 1794. ISTC No. io00113000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staat…

1495 CE

#1758.1

De cautelis medicorum.

The first practical treatise on medical ethics. "Following opening remarks on the ideal conduct of the physician, and his duties towards his patients, their relatives, and his own colleagues while avoiding the pervers…

1495 CE–1498 CE

#8395

Aristotle. [Opera omnia]. 5 vols.

Between November 1495 and June 1498 scholar printer Aldus Manutius (Teobaldo Mannucci) of Venice issued the first edition in the original Greek of Aristotle's Opera omnia. The set appeared in five thick quarto or smal…

1496 CE

#12846

Diaria de bello Carolino, with a dedication letter from the author to the Doge Augustinus Barbadicus, Venice 21.3.1496, to the Venetian Councilors Sebastianus Baduarius and Hieronymus Bernardus, Venice 27.8.1496, and two poems on the Gauls and on the work of Quintius Aemilianus Cimbriacus.

An eyewitness account of the retreat from Italy of Charles VIII of France in 1495, written by a physician of Verona, who was chief surgeon of the Venetian troops in the campaign. Although the book is not written prima…

1496 CE

#9144

Expositio super libros tegni Galeni. Ed: Guilemus Caldentei Hispanus.

ISTC No. ih00542000.

1496 CE–1497 CE

#2362

Tractatus de pestilentiali scorra sive mala de Franzos: originem remediaqu[ue] eiusdem continens.

Grünpeck was first to record mixed primary lesions, multiple primary lesions, and to note the second incubation period of syphilis. A translation of the above is in Arch. Derm. Syph. (Chicago), 1930, 22, 430. Dig…

1497 CE

#1790

Breviarium medicinae. Tr: Gerardus Cremonensis. Add: Serapion the Younger: In medicinis simplicibus. Tr: Simon a Cordo Januensis and Abraham Judaeus Tortuosiensis. Galenus: De virtute centaureae; Johannes Platearius: Practica brevis; Matthaeus Platearius: De simplici medicina "Circa instans".

Serapion the Elder and Serapion the Younger were Syrian Christians who wrote in Arabic. Breviarum medicinae was an abridgement of the opinions of the Greek and Arabic physicians concerning diseases and their treatment…

1497 CE

#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 gu…

1497 CE

#2363

Libellus de Epidemia, quam uulgo morbum Gallicum uocant,

One of the earliest treatises on syphilis, and one of the few medical books printed by Aldus Manutius in the 15th century. Leoniceno included a good description of syphilitic hemiplegia. He believed that syphilis was …

1497 CE

#39.1

Rhazes: Liber ad Almansorem sive Tractatus medicinae I-X. Liber divisionum. De aegritudinibus juncturarum. De aegritudinibus puerorum. De secretis sive aphorismi. Antidotarium. De praeservatione ab aegritudine lapidis; Introductorium medicinae. De sectionibus et ventosis. Synonyma. De animalibus. Add:Tabula de herbis medicis; Maimonides: Aphorismi; Mesue (the elder): Aphorismi; Hippocrates: Secreta; Prognosticatio secundum lunam; Capsula eburnea; De humana natura; De aere et aqua et regionibus; De pharmaciis; De insomniis; Avenzohar: De cura lapidis.

The best edition of the Opuscula of Rhazes, containing the second printing of the celebrated Liber ad Almansorem, not to be confused with Liber nonus ad Almansorem, as well as De aegritudine puerorum (No. 6313), and o…

1498 CE

#12925

Chirurgia. Add: Brunus Longoburgensis: Chirurgia magna et minor; Bonaventura de Castello: Recepta aquae balnei de Porrecta; Theodoricus Cerviensis: Chirurgia; Rolandus: Libellus de chirurgia; Lanfrancus Mediolanensis: Chirurgia; Rogerius: Practica; Leonardus Bertapalia: Recollectae super quarto libro Avicennae.

This late 15th century edition of the surgery of Guy de Chauliac also contained the first printed editions of various lesser-known medieval surgeries such as those by Bruno da Longoburgo and Leonardo Bertapaglia. It a…

1498 CE

#2363.1

El sumario de la medicina, con un tratado sobre las pestiferas buuas.

H. Goodman considers this treatise, written in verse, among the best of all works on the syphilis in the 15th and 16th centuries. Reprinted Salamanca, 1973. For English translation see Bull. Inst. Hist. Med., 1939, 7,…

1498 CE

#11631

Nuovo ricettario composto dal Collegio dei Dottori di Firenze. Ed: Hieronymus dal Pozzo Toscanelli.

The pharmacopeia of Florence was probably the second pharmacopeia published in print. It included a list of approved drugs and described various methods of preparing them for use, together with proper weights and meas…

1499 CE

#2069

Dioscorides, De materia medica [Greek]. Add: Pseudo- Dioscorides, De venenis, De venenatis animalibus [Greek]; Add: Nicander, Theriaca; Add: Alexipharmaca; Scholia [Greek].

Nicander was a Greek poet and physician. His Theriaca, in 958 hexameters, dealt with the symptoms and treatment of poisoning by the bites of poisonous animals; the Alexipharmaca considered intoxications through animal…

1499 CE

#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 &…

c. 1490 CE

#13042

Governayle of helthe. Add: John Lydgate, Medicina stomachi.

Though it's exact publication date is uncertain, this is the first medical publication issued in English by William Caxton, the first English printer, who set up the first English press in Westminster Abbey. Only two …

c. 1496 CE

#92

De proprietatibus rerum. English translation by John of Trevisa.

This English translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus was made by John of Trevisa in 1398. Bibliographically it is of interest as being one of the earliest books printed in London, one of the finest of the 15th century, …