Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1474

JOHANN LUDWIG CHOULANT (1791-1861) Handbuch der Bücherkunde für die aeltere Medicin zur Kenntniss der griechische, lateinischen und arabischen Schriften im ärztlichen Fache. L. Voss 1828 xiv, 198 pp. 20.3 cm.

Choulant, a native of Dresden, was one of the greatest of medical bibliographers and historians. He was graduated from the University of Leipzig in 1818 and held a variety of posts there and at the Neustadt Medic-Chirurgial Academy where he eventually was made director. Choulant's rather uncouth and openly suspicious nature did not prevent him from establishing a sizable following among his students, and he was respected as a clinician of great ability with a large consulting practice. It is his numerous historical writings, however, that have endured, including a number of translations of early English works and extensive writings on Celsus (see No. 19 ff.), his favorite author. Of Choulant's many historical bibliographies, the Handbuch is considered the greatest. It is a catalogue of all the medical incunabula known to Choulant, and without it the study of Greek, Latin, and Arabic texts is nearly impossible.

See Related Record(s): 19

Cited references: Choulant-Frank, p. 7; Cushing C228; Garrison-Morton 6753; Osler 6973 (1841 ed.); Waller 18226; Wellcome II, p. 344 (1841 ed.)

Gift of John Martin, M.D.