Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 104

JOHN OF GADDESDEN (1280?-1361) Rosa Anglica practica medicine a capite ad pedes. Joannesantonius Birreta 1492 [4] 173 [1] ll. 28.5 cm.

John studied at Merton College, Oxford, then practiced first at Oxford and later in London, where he was highly esteemed among his contemporaries. He was the first Englishman to be appointed court physician to an English king, Edward II, and is said to have been Chaucer's model for the "Doctour of Phisik" in the Canterbury tales. His famous treatise, Rosa Anglica, was written around 1314 and is here in the first printed edition, edited by Niccolò Scillacio (see No. 141). This was the first printed medical book written by an Englishman. It is not noted for its scientific approach to medicine and is not much more than a medical advisor for the layman. However, John covered his subject quite thoroughly and the book is typical of other medical works of the period. In this copy the first leaf, bearing only the title on the recto, is supplied in facsimile on old paper by Bernard C. Middleton (b. 1924), the internationally known bookbinder and conservator.

See Related Record(s): 141

Cited references: Cushing, Incunabula 56; Goff J 289; Garrison-Morton 2191; Hain-Copinger 1108; Klebs 424.1; Osler 7447; Waller 83; Wellcome 2485

Gift of John Martin, M.D.