13. The first medical treatise printed in Hebrew

Avicenna
Naples, Italy, 1463

The Canon medicinae, a compendium of medical knowledge and a guide to clinical teaching, was derived from Galenic writings and infused by Avicenna with Arabic medical lore. The first three books were printed in Latin in 1472 and a complete edition appeared the following year (see a page from an early Latin edition below). The text itself was read in the medical schools at Montpellier and Louvain as late as 1650, and Arnold C. Klebs described it as “one of the most significant intellectual phenomena of all times.” Avicenna’s Canon was translated into Hebrew in 1279. The edition here is the first appearance of the Canon in print in Hebrew as well as the first printing of a medical treatise in Hebrew—and the only one produced during the fifteenth century. The index mark (or manicule)—the small diagram of the hand with pointing finger—was commonly used in the margins of books and manuscripts from the 12th through the 18th century to mark passages of particular note or interest.

Hebrew. Paper and vellum.
Countway Library of Medicine, Rare Books Collection. Rare Books Ballard 10. HOLLIS Catalog: 009414505