Overview

Before the fifteenth century, medical practitioners relied on texts that were laboriously handwritten and recopied through the centuries. This method of distributing medical information was slow, limited to only a few translations, and frequently altered the content and illustrations to the point of inaccuracy. After the invention of the printing press around 1450, however, medical texts, especially classical works by Hippocrates, Galen, and Aristotle, among others, experienced a new life and reproductions closer to the original text. Distribution of medical literature increased, translations in several languages stretched across the world, and subsequently, medical science and practice progressed rapidly.

Background

For nearly 5,000 years preceding the invention of the printing press, medical books were written by hand. Prescriptions, incantations, and spiritually inspired healing rituals were exchanged orally, but were difficult to remember. Eventually these complicated treatments were written...