Title: The Medieval Surgery
First published: 1992
Description: The medieval origins of current medical practice continue to be a subject of great interest. Tony Hunt has undertaken pioneer work in this field, and now presents, for the first time, the complete set of illustrations which accompany a 13th-century Anglo-Norman translation of Roger of Parma's Surgery (c. 1180), which was the first original treatise on surgery to be written in the medieval West. His commentary on the illustrations relates the drawings precisely to the sections of text they illustrate and thus provides more accurate identification of the different medical treatments depicted by the artist than has previously been the case. These distinctive drawings, almost without parallel in 13th-century England, show a consummate medical illustrator at work, uniquely combining technical, aesthetic and psychological interests. While the illustrations, which were added after the manuscript had been executed, performed a useful function as guide-marks to the contents of the surgical treatise, they are above all an intriguing and delightful monument to an anonymous artist of rare technical accomplishment. It is not only students of medicine who will find much of interest in these early pictorial representations of the medieval pharmacy and the range of therapeutic treatments covered by the surgeon in an age which had not yet produced any clear demarcation between surgery and general medicine.
Subjects: Drawing, Medieval, Early works to 1800, Illustrations, Medical illustration, Medieval Drawing, Pictorial works, Surgery, Surgery, history, Chirurgie, Ouvrages avant 1800, Ouvrages illustrés, Illustration médicale, Dessin médiéval, MEDICAL, General, Chirurgia (Ruggero, Frugardo), General Surgery, Medieval History, History of Medicine
Places: England
People: Ruggero Frugardo (12th cent)
LC classification: RD30 .H8513 1992