Includes descriptions of plague, tuberculosis, scabies, epilepsy, anthrax, and leprosy. ISTC No. ib00447000.

Argelata was a pupil of Guy de Chauliac, and professor at Bologna. He is supposed to have done the autopsy on Pope Alexander V, who died suddenly on May 3, 1410. ISTC No. ia00951000. Digital facsimile from U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.

Rhazes was the first to devote an entire treatise to diseases of children. Although he lived so many years before the advent of printing, he was still regarded as an authority in the 15th century and his works were among the earliest medical books to be printed. Sudhoff included the above work in his Erstlinge der pädiatrischen Literatur, Munich, 1925.  ISTC No. ir00175000.

As with several 15th century printed medical compendia, this work contains texts by authors in addition to Rhazes, including Galen, and Hippocrates.

The first printed herbal with illustrations was an illustrated edition of the Herbarium Apulei by Apuleius Platonicus or Pseudo-Apuleius, originally compiled circa 400 CE or earlier, and issued in Rome by the printer and diplomat Johannes Philippus de Lignamine in 1481 or 1482. The earliest surviving manuscript of this text dates from the sixth century. In his dedicatory letter Lignamine stated that he based his edition on a manuscript found in the Abbey of Monte Cassino. In the 1930s F.W.T. Hunger identified a 9th century manuscript as Lignamine's source (codex Casinensis 97 saec.IX). This he published in facsimile, along with the first printed edition, as The Herbal of Pseudo-Apuleius (1935). Regrettably the 9th century manuscript was destroyed in the bombardment of Monte Casino in 1944. 

The first printed edition of Herbarium Apulei contains in addition to its text, a title within a woodcut wreath and 131 woodcuts of plants, including repeats. It gives a multitude of prescriptions, and to make the work more useful, lists synonyms for each plant in Greek, Persian, Egyptian, and other languages, illustrating each with a stylized woodcut. These are the earliest series of printed botanical illustrations, and probably the first formal series of illustrations on a scientific subject, though they were preceded by the technological woodcuts in Valturio's De re militari, 1472.  As a practical and instructive reinforcement of the value of particular plants, snakes, scorpions, and other venomous animals are depicted in the woodcuts of plants that provide relevant antedotes.

Lignamine sought patronage of his editions through the rich and powerful. As a result, two variant issues of the first edition exist with no priority established: one with a dedicatory letter to Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga, another with a dedication to Giuliano della Rovere, future Pope Julius II. Blunt & Raphael, The Illustrated Herbal (1979) 113-14. ISTC No. ih00058000. Digital facsimile of the issue with the dedication to Cardinal Gonzaga from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

The writings of Hippocrates began to appear in print in the 1480s, and only a few of the works attributed to Hippocrates were printed in the 15th century. Though the date of this edition is unstated within the book itself, the ISTC ih00277500 attributes it to "about 1481", making it, and an edition of Hippocrates' De insomniis Ed: Andreas Brentius also attributed by ISTC ih00277000 to Rome: Oliverius Servius, "about 1481", possibly the earliest printed editions of any of Hippocrates's works. Digital edition of De insomniis from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

Maimonides wrote De regimine sanitatis in the 1190s in Arabic as a private manual of health for the Sultan Al-Afdal, son of Saladin. It was translated from Arabic into Hebrew in 1244 by Moses ibn Tibbon, and the Hebrew text was the source for the Latin version made later in the century by the Jewish convert Johannes de Capua. Typeset by nuns, and printed by the Ripoli press, housed in the Dominican nunnery of Florence under the direction of the convent’s vicar, Fra Domenico, the Latin edition includes a separate responsum on medical matters that Maimonides wrote for Al-Afdal. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

The Kitab-al-Kullyat or Colliget (Book of Universals) was an “attempt to found a system of medicine upon the neo-Platonic modification of Aristotle’s philosophy” (Garrison, p. 132). Averroës was the greatest Arab commentator upon Aristotle, and scholars still turn to him for the interpretation of obscure passages in the great philosopher’s writings. ISTC No. ia01411000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

The earliest printed edition (circa 1482) of the Physiologus, a Christological natural historical work that originated in Late Antiquity, and remained popular through the Middle Ages. This edition, which was very widely used as a school text, sometimes provided with a commentary, during the Middle Ages, was attributed to a bishop Theobaldus, who may have been Abbot of Montecassino from 1022-1035. ISTC No. it00142000.

English translation: Physiologus: A metrical bestiary of twelve chapters by Bishop Theobald printed in Cologne 1492. Translated by Alan Wood Rendell. London: John & Edward Bumpus, Ltd., 1928. Digital facsimile from Bestiary.ca at this link. The Theobaldus version was retranslated and edited by P. T. Eden as Theobaldi "Physiologus" (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1972).

ISTC No. ih00538000.

One of the two earliest dated printings of the Hippocratic Oath. Digital facsimile from the Dombibliothek Freising at this link. ISTC No. ip00298000. It is possible that an undated edition attributed to 1481 (Entry No. 6929) preceded this. The Hippocratic oath was also published in print in another dated edition: Franciscus Argilagnes (ed.) Articella seu Opus artis medicinae, Venice, Hermannus Liechtenstein, 1483. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link. ISTC No. ia01143000.

The first English translation of the oath by John Read appeared in Francisco ARCEO, A most excellent and compendious method of curing woundes in the head, and in other partes of the body, London: Thomas East, 1588.

A student of Aristotle, Theophrastus succeeded his teacher as head of the Athens Peripatetic School. This is the earliest work of scientific botany, a subject not addressed in any of the writings of Aristotle. Theophrastus collated and systematized the existing botanical knowledge and described about 500 plants. His system of botanical classification was analogous to the zoological system in Aristotle’s Historia animalium. Part of the book is devoted to plant-lore and the gathering of drugs for medicinal purposes. Theophrastus noted the principle of drug tolerance, observing that the power of a drug taken over a long period diminishes in people who become accustomed to taking it. He was also aware of individual differences in assimilation.

 First edition in Greek in Aristotle, [Opera omnia], Venice, Aldus Manutius, 1495-98. ISTC No. it00155000. Digital facsimile of the 1483 edition from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

The earliest medical work printed in English. It was published without printer's name or date, but has been attributed to the press of William Machlinia, in London, and estimated to have been published in 1483."Although often attributed in incunable editions to Benedictus Kamisius, Kamintus, Canutus or Kanuti (i.e. Bengt Knutsson, bishop of Västerâs), the author is probably Johannes Jacobi (i.e. Jean Jasme or Jacme) (Wickersheimer)" (ISTC no.  ij00013200). J. F. Payne, "The Earliest Medical Work Printed in English", British Medical Journal v.1 [1480]; May 11, 1889, 1085-86.

Considering the central importance of Galen's writings in medicine from the time he wrote well through the sixteenth and even the seventeenth century, and the need for physicians to make sense of such a large number of his texts, it does not seem surprising that the first printed bibliography of any medical author would be De divisione librorum Galeni by the fourteenth century Italian physician Gentile da Foligno (Gentilis Fulginas) who appears to have been one of the first European physicians to perform a dissection on a human (1341). Gentile's very brief listing was first published in the collective volume, containing over ten short texts, entitled Articella su Opus artis medicinae edited by Franciscus Argilagnes of Valencia, and published in Venice by Hermannus Liechtenstein on March 29, 1483. The Articella was used as a textbook or reference work in the early medical schools. Among the other works published in that volume was the first printing (in Latin) of the Hippocratic Oath. Digital facsimile of the 1483 Articella from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link. ISTC No. ia01143000.

Gilles de Corbeil's medical poem De urinis was based on writings by Theophilus Protospatharius by way of the Articella. Poems such as this were intended as mnemonic aids for students, and they tended to be widely used. 

"Gentile's commentary de urinarum iudiciis makes a first attempt to comprehend the physiology of urine formation; aided by his dissection of cadavers, Gentile asserted that urine associated with the blood passes per poros euritides ("through the porous tubules") of the kidney and is then delivered to the bladder. Commenting on De pulsibus, he connected the relationship between fast pulse rate and urine output and correlated the color of urine with the condition of the heart. For the originality of his thought Mario Timio suggested^[8] that Gentile could be indicated as the 'first' cardionephrologist in the history of medicine." (Wikipedia article on Gentile da Foligno, accessed 1-2017). ISTC No. ia00093000. Digital facsimile from the Countway Library at Harvard at this link.

See also Carmina de urinarum iudiciis edited ab excellentissimo magistro Egidio cum expositione et commento magistri Gentils de Fulgineo noviter castigatis, Et pluribus in locis emendatis, per magistrum Auenantium, de Camerino artium & medicinae professorem (Basel, 1529) Digital facsimile of the 1529 edition from Google Books at this link.

First edition of the collected works of Aristotle with the commentaries of Averroes, by which Aristotle was mainly studied during the Middle Ages. The purpose of Vernia's edition was to provide an accurate edition of Averroes's commentaries. These were first printed in Padua, 1472-1473. As usual, various different translators were involved in this collected edition, and a few texts by authors other than Aristotle were added. The 8 parts of the set were:

The first herbal printed in Germany, and the prototype for most of the herbals printed during the remainder of the 15th century. It also contains some fanciful pictures of animals. With text in Latin and with German synonyms, this is often called the Latin Herbarius. It was the first printed book issued with a title page bearing a complete imprint, and it is also known as “Herbarius Moguntinus". It was probably compiled by Johann Wonnecke von Kaub from the works of earlier writers. ISTC No. ih00062000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek at this link.

Nine different versions of the Herbarius latinus were issued during the 15th century, with the language of the synonyms changed to reflect the language of the countries where published. There was also a Dutch translation issued in Holland with Latin synonyms, and two Latin editions issued without synonyms. See No. 1796.

A general treatise on medical practice.  ISTC No. iv00005800

The first herbal written and printed in a modern language, sometimes called the "German Herbarius” and Gart der Gesundheit. Like the Herbarius latinus issued the previous year, the text of this work was compiled by Johann Wonnecke von Kaub, whose name was latinized as Johann von Cube. This is the first printed book with some plant illustrations drawn from nature (65 out of 379 woodcuts). The scientific illustrations have been attributed to Erhard Reuwich of Utrecht, the illustrator of Breydenbach's travels in the Holy Land. This is the first of 14 editions issued in the 15th century: ISTC No. ig00097000. 60 editions were eventually published. Digital facsimile of the first edition from the Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek at this link.

The second printed book on balneology. Savonarola took a skeptical approach to the subject, relying on his own observations and rejecting the notion that baths owed their virtues to occult or supernatural properties. Included in his work is the first recorded instance of a clock being used to regulate an actual, purposive experiment—in this case, a comparison of the water temperatures of two Italian hot springs.
ISTC is0029000. Digital facsimile from Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

The “Grant herbier” or Arbolayre, the only medieval herbal printed in French, was probably derived from Platearius (No. 1790). Its authorship remains unknown. The “Grete Herball” (No. 1802) is a translation of it. It contains a large part of the text of Mattheus Platearius (12th century), physician of the medical school of Salerno and teacher of botanic medicine in the tradition of Dioscorides. Few copies of this edition are known, several imperfect. ISTC ia00944000.

A work on disorders of pregnant women as well as on pediatrics. It describes 52 childhood diseases, providing the name, the causes, symptoms, prognosis and treatment of each, drawing on Greek authors, Arabs (especially Avicenna) and recent authors. Facsimile reprint in Sudhoff (No. 6355). Curiously almost all recorded copies lack the first 77 leaves, which apparently were not issued. In the 1980s six of the missing leaves were discovered as endpapers. See D.E. Rhodes, "A volume from the monastery library of Hayles," Trans. Camb. Bibl. Soc., 8 (1985), 598-603 & 9 (1987) pp. 205-207.  ISTC No. ir00241000. English translation in Ruhrah, No. 6354.

The Al-Hawi, or Continens, a great encyclopedia of medicine. The above first Latin translation by Feragius Salernitanus is the largest and heaviest of the medical incunabula. The original manuscript was in Arabic. ISTC No. ir00178000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

De aquaeductibus, or De aquis urbis Romae was written about 100 CE by the Roman senator Frontinus. Its title is sometimes translated as The Aquaducts of Rome, and most recently by Rodgers as On the Water-Management of the City of Rome. The brief work provides gives a history and description of the water supply of ancient Rome, and the laws governing its use and maintenance. It was first translated into English as The Two Books on the Water Supply of the City of Rome of Sextus Julius Frontinus, Water Commissioner of the City of Rome, A.D. 97. A photographic reproduction of the sole original Latin manuscript and its reprint in Latin; also, a translation into English, and explanatory chapters by Clemens Herschel, Boston, 1899. Herschel's translation was revised by Mary B. McIlwaine, for the Loeb Classical Library edition of 1925, edited by Charles E. Bennett. The Bennett / McIlwaine translation was in turn revised by R. H. Rodgers for the latest and best edition (Cambridge: Univ. Press 2004). Both the place and publisher of the 1487 editio princeps of Frontinus (sometimes thought to be printed in 1483) are unstated but inferred by bibliographers. The edition is described bibliographically in ISTC No. if00324000. A digital facsimile is available from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link. That library dates the edition between 1487 and 1490.

For further information see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

The first separately printed treatise on diet was written by the Egyptian-Jewish physician and philosopher Isaac Judaeus who lived from about 832 to 932 CE. He was also known as Isaac Israeli ben Solomon and Abu Ya'qub Ishaq Sulayman al-Israili. The Latin edition was a translation made from the Arabic, circa 1070, by Constantine the African (Constantinus Africanus). De particularibus diaetis was a portion of " 'Kitab al-Adwiyah al-Mufradah wa'l-Aghdhiyah,' a work in four sections on remedies and aliments. The first section, consisting of twenty chapters, was translated into Latin by Constantine [the African] under the title 'Diætæ Universales,' and into Hebrew by an anonymous translator under the title 'Ṭib'e ha-Mezonot.' The other three parts of the work are entitled in the Latin translation 'Diætæ Particulares'; and it seems that a Hebrew translation, entitled 'Sefer ha-Mis'adim' or 'Sefer ha-Ma'akalim,' was made from the Latin" (Wikipedia article on Isaac Israeli ben Solomon, accessed 06-08-2009). A more complete printed edition of the text appeared in Basel in 1570. Campbell, Arabic Medicine and its Influence on the Middle Ages I (1926) 73. ISTC no. ii00176000. Digital facsimile from Regensburger Reichsstädtische Bibliothek Online (RRBO) at this link.

The first printed book on geriatrics – a guide to proper hygiene, physical and mental, and particularly to the diet of the aged. Translated into English by L.R. Lind as Gerontocomia: on the care of the aged and Maximilianus, Elegies on old age and love. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988. See also Nos. 363.4 and 1758.1. ISTC no. iz00026000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

The most popular and influential medical work by Maimonides, the most famous of early Jewish physician/philosophers. This is a collection of about 1500 aphorisms derived from Galen, and divided into 24 treatises. In the 25th and final treatise Maimonides discusses Galen’s teleological ideas from the Biblical standpoint. See also No. 53. The collection also includes translations of works by Mesue and Hippocrates by Gerard of Cremona, and a translation of Rhazes by Aegidius Lusitanus (Aegidius de Scalabis).  ISTC no. im00077000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.