The 1494 in the title comes from the year in which Pol became a  physician, and his habit of writing his name and that date in his books. The volume includes a study of books from Nicolaus Pol's library in Cleveland and Yale, and a list of printed books and manuscripts known to have belonged to Pol, estimated possibly as high as 1350 volumes—an enormous, and unlikely number for the time. After Pol's death in 1532, his library passed to Innichen Abbey in South Tyrol. Surviving volumes of his library are now scattered; some are in Innichen, Innsbruck, and Vienna, and in the USA in the National Library of Medicine, Yale and in the Dittrick Museum of Medical History, Cleveland (33 volumes bought in 1929 from Maggs Bros., for GBP 2,500).

For supplement see No. 6786.18.

Latin text with parallel English translation.

Sir William Osler wrote to S. Weir Mitchell in 1908, "I buy a few good things now and again. I had a find last week, 140 original letters to Baglivi, 17th century ‑ from Redi, Malpighi, Pitcairn, Bellini, and the famous old anatomists and physicians of the day. B's answers are with them."