An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

MESUE, Yuhanna ibn Masawaih (يوحنا بن ماسويه)

6 entries
  • 10960

Opera medicinalia. Ed: Peregrinus Cavalcobovis, with a preface by Nicolaus Gupalatinus. Consisting of: Canones universales. De simplicibus. Grabadin. Practica.

Venice: Clemens Patavinus, 1471.

This undated edition, which the ISTC im00508000 catalogues as "not before 18 May 1471", may be the earliest printed edition of the writings of the medieval Persian or Assyrian Nestorian Christian physician Yuhanna ibn Masawaih, whose name was also written Ibn Masawaih, Masawaiyh, and in Latin Mesue, Masuya, Mesue Major, Msuya, and Mesue the Elder. Another edition of Mesue's Opera medicinalia, for which there is a definite publication date, appeared in Padua on 9 June 1471 (ISTC no. im00509000). The two editions printed in 1471 were the first printed editions of any works by Mesue.



Subjects: Collected Works: Opera Omnia, MEDIEVAL MEDICINE › Medieval Persian Islamic Medicine, PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS
  • 6313

Liber ad Almansorem sive Tractatus medicinae I-X. Add: Liber divisionum; De aegritudinibus juncturarum; De aegritudinibus puerorum; De secretis sive aphorismi; De sectionibus et ventosis; Synonyma. Galenus: De medicinis experimentatis. Mesue (the elder): Aphorismi. Hippocrates: secreta; Capsula eburnea; De humana natura; De aere et aqua et regionibus; De pharmaciis. Tabula de herbis medicis.

Milan: Leonardus Pachel and Uldericus Scinzenzeler, 1481.

Rhazes was the first to devote an entire treatise to diseases of children. Although he lived so many years before the advent of printing, he was still regarded as an authority in the 15th century and his works were among the earliest medical books to be printed. Sudhoff included the above work in his Erstlinge der pädiatrischen Literatur, Munich, 1925.  ISTC No. ir00175000.

As with several 15th century printed medical compendia, this work contains texts by authors in addition to Rhazes, including Galen, and Hippocrates.



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Greece, ANCIENT MEDICINE › Roman Empire, MEDIEVAL MEDICINE › Medieval Persian Islamic Medicine, PEDIATRICS, PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS › Materia medica / Herbals / Herbal Medicines
  • 6495.7

Maimonides: Aphorismi secundum doctrinam Galeni. Add: Mesue: Aphorismi. Rhasis: De secretis in medicina. Hippocrates: Capsula eburnea.

Venice: Franciscus (Plato) de Benedictis, for Benedictus Hectoris, 1489.

The most popular and influential medical work by Maimonides, the most famous of early Jewish physician/philosophers. This is a collection of about 1500 aphorisms derived from Galen, and divided into 24 treatises. In the 25th and final treatise Maimonides discusses Galen’s teleological ideas from the Biblical standpoint. See also No. 53. The collection also includes translations of works by Mesue and Hippocrates by Gerard of Cremona, and a translation of Rhazes by Aegidius Lusitanus (Aegidius de Scalabis).  ISTC no. im00077000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.



Subjects: Jews and Medicine, MEDIEVAL MEDICINE , MEDIEVAL MEDICINE › Medieval Jewish Medicine
  • 39.1

Rhazes: Liber ad Almansorem sive Tractatus medicinae I-X. Liber divisionum. De aegritudinibus juncturarum. De aegritudinibus puerorum. De secretis sive aphorismi. Antidotarium. De praeservatione ab aegritudine lapidis; Introductorium medicinae. De sectionibus et ventosis. Synonyma. De animalibus. Add:Tabula de herbis medicis; Maimonides: Aphorismi; Mesue (the elder): Aphorismi; Hippocrates: Secreta; Prognosticatio secundum lunam; Capsula eburnea; De humana natura; De aere et aqua et regionibus; De pharmaciis; De insomniis; Avenzohar: De cura lapidis.

Venice: Bonetus Locatellus, for Octavianus Scotus, 1497.

The best edition of the Opuscula of Rhazes, containing the second printing of the celebrated Liber ad Almansorem, not to be confused with Liber nonus ad Almansorem, as well as De aegritudine puerorum (No. 6313), and other works by Rhazes. This edition also contains the first edition of Rhazes’ De proprietatibus membrorum et nocumentis sexaginta animalium

The Liber ad Almansorem first appeared in its entirety in 1481 with 14 other titles, including the first printed edition of Hippocrates On Airs, Waters, and Places, a pioneering work in anthropology. When republished in 1497, additional works by Rhazes, Maimonides and Avenzoar were included for a total of 23 separate titles. (Works by Hippocrates, Mesue, and Maimonides also included here were previously published in 1489, a later edition of which was issued in 1500, and 1508.)  ISTC No. ir00176000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this ink



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Greece, ANTHROPOLOGY, MEDIEVAL MEDICINE , MEDIEVAL MEDICINE › Medieval Islamic or Arab Medicine, MEDIEVAL MEDICINE › Medieval Persian Islamic Medicine
  • 53

Aphorismi secundum doctrinam Galeni. Add: Johannes Damascenus [Mesue?]: Aphorismi. Hippocrates: Secreta; Prognosticatio secundum lunam; Capsula eburnea; De humana natura; De aere et aqua et regionibus; De pharmaciis; De insomniis. Avenzohar: De curatione lapidis.

Venice: Johannes Hammon, 1500.

An edition of the Latin translation of Maimonides’ Aphorismi (first published, Venice, 1489), together with a compilation of the works of Mesue, Avenzoar, Galen, etc. Page for page reprint, Venice, 1508. See No. 6495.7. ISTC No. im00078000.



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Roman Empire, ISLAMIC OR ARAB MEDICINE, Jews and Medicine, MEDIEVAL MEDICINE , MEDIEVAL MEDICINE › Medieval Jewish Medicine, Medicine: General Works
  • 9415

Joannis Mesuae Damasceni De re medica libri tres Jacobo Sylvio medico interprete.

Paris: Christian Wechel, 1542.

Dubois, better known as Sylvius, produced a new translation of the complete works of Mesue, which became the standard text, and was reprinted 21 times. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: Collected Works: Opera Omnia, MEDIEVAL MEDICINE › Medieval Persian Islamic Medicine, PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS › Materia medica / Herbals / Herbal Medicines