ABULCASIS
METHODUS MEDENDI, 1541
AN ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF SURGERY
The surgical handbook of Abulcasis was published in Basel in 1541. The title begins with the words: "Methodus Medendi certa, clara et brevis...", i.e., "safe, compreensible and brief treatment method".
Latin translations of the originally Arabic manuscript have previously been published in 1497and 1500 by Locatellus in Venice and later by Schott in Strasbourg in 1532. Heinrich Petri printed the work with woodcuts for the first time in 1541.
The title page proudly states that the book contains illustrations of instruments for the treatment of almost all surgical indications. Already in the first translation from Arabic into Latin, Gerhard von Cremona added illustrations to the handwritten text. They appear not only in further editions, but also in several subsequent surgical works.