JOHANNES DE KETHAM

AN ILLUSTRATED COMPILATION

The work is known under the short title of "Fasciculus Medicinae", which means "bundle of medicine". This is a very early medical compilation comprised of different essays. The first edition and this one were published by the brothers Giovanni and Gregorio Gregorius in Venice, who had already printed two medical works previously.

The essays look at central themes of late medieval medicine.They provide information about diagnostic procedures such as uroscopy and knowledge of the anatomy and gynaecology, treatment such as bloodletting in accordance with astrological rules, the treatment of certain diseases such as the plague, and caring for wounds.

A distinctive feature of the Fasciculus is the rich, colourful imagery: It includes ten high-quality woodcuts that were created as woodcut profiles like drawings. Previously only two medical illustrations had been published: An illustration of the three brain ventricles in "Philosophia naturalis" (Brescia 1490) and a bloodletting diagram in a Flemish collection of surgical texts (Löwen 1481).

The essays were not unknown as manuscripts but were difficult to access. As printed products cost a lot of money, physicians were keen to purchase a collection of different important texts in one single volume. The demand for the publication after it first went into circulation as an incunabulum in 1491 was so high that 20 reprints were published over the next 30 years or so.