Bakhtshooa Gondishapoori (also spelled Bukhtishu and Bukht-Yishu in literature) were Persian or Assyrian Nestorian Christian physicians from the 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries, spanning 6 generations and 250 years. The Kitāb Na't al-Hayawān (British Library Or. 2784) is the earliest of extant illustrated Arab and Persian manuscripts on animals.

Essays by Alain Touwaide, Jean Pierre Angremy,  Christian Förstel and Grégoire Aslanoff concerning the 10th century Byzantine illuminated manuscript designated as "BnF Supplement grec 247." This spectacularly illustrated manuscript is the only surviving Byzantine illuminated manuscript of these didactic poems.  The Theriaka  concern poisonous bites of snakes, scorpions insects and other animals from the sea, air or land. Nicander provided information in three main categories: physical description and ethology of the poisonous animals, the symptoms of their bites and stings, and finally treatment for poisoning. The Alexipharmaka  consists of 630 verses dealing with poisons absorbed orally from plants, animals and minerals, with a systematic tripartite division concerning the physical description of the solution in which the poison was mixed, clinical symptoms following the poisoning, and enumeration of specific therapies. Spanish text; superb color illustrations. This book was a commentary volume for a deluxe facsimile of the manuscript issued by Moleiro.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Full text available from LifeDynamics.com at this link.

Sanger edited The Birth Control Review until 1929. A new series began in 1933. It was a birth control advocacy periodical published by the American Birth Control League, and later by its successor, the Birth Control Federation of America. Birth Control Federation of America was the earlier name of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The journal ceased publication in 1940. Digital facsimiles of  vols 1-3, (1917-19) from the Hathi Trust at this link.

The first English work on the forensic aspects of mental illness. Digital facsimile from Wellcome Forensics Collection, Internet Archive, at this link.

Standard edition of the Cynegetica (Κυνηγετικά/KynÄ“getiká, 'On Hunting' ) by Oppian of Apamea. This edition was based upon a new collation of prior printed editions and extant manuscripts of the text. Boudreaux prefaced his work with a bibliography of printed and manuscript editions. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. 

First edition in print of Oppian of Apamea's Cynegetica (Κυνηγετικά/KynÄ“getiká, 'On Hunting' ), a didactic poem in 2144 hexameters and 4 books, dedicated to the emperor Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus). Its author is to not be confused with Oppian of Anazarbus, although in antiquity both didactic poems were attributed to a single author with this name, perhaps because they were combined in a single edition, beginning with Halieutiká, or because the author of Cynegetica circulated his own work under the name of the predecessor he imitated. In this Aldine edition the Greek texts of the works of both Oppians were combined, along with their translation by Lorenzo Lippi; however, only the Cynegetica was printed for the first time. Cynegetica was written after 198 CE (conquest of the city of Ctesiphon). In addition to information on hunting techniques with dogs and horses, the work includes a great deal of zoological information as hunters needed to know as much as possible about the animals they hunted, their habits and methods appropriate to their capture, etc. The only surviving illuminated manuscript of the text is the 10th century codex from the library of Basilios Bessarion in the Biblioteca nazionale Marciana, Venice, designated cod. Gr. Z. 479. It includes 187 miniature paintings. 

After Artedi's mysterious and premature death by drowning at the age of 30 Linnaeus raised money to pay off Artedi's creditors and obtained his papers. These he published in the present five part work. The five parts are:

I. Bibliotheca Ichthyologica or Historia litteraria Icthyologiae, a chronologically arranged, annotated comprehensive analytical review of previous literature on fishes.

2. Philosophia Ichthyologica: Artedi's philosophy for establishing ichthyology as a science,

3. Genera Piscium, a classification of the fishes recognized by Artedi, containing 52 genera and 242 species.

4. Synonymia specierum, a list of names applicable to each of the species that Artedi recognized.

5. Descriptiones specierum piscium, descriptions of 71 species of fish, plus a whale that Artedi saw in London. 

Alwyne Wheeler, "Peter Artedi, founder of modern ichthyology," Proc. V Congr. europ. Ichtyol. Stockholm, 1985, 3-10. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Standard work on the subject; 20th edition, New York: Arden Media, 2011. Hatcher originated the work in 1978. Collaborators on the 20th edition are Hatcher, Kowal, Nelson, Policar, and Trusell. An offshoot of the main book is Hatcher, Rinehart, W., Blackburn, R. Geller, J. S., and Sheldon, J.D. The essentials of contraceptive technology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Population Information Program, 1997.

Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

Books I-II of De arte venandi cum avibus, edited by Marcus Welser from a very old, incomplete defective manuscript, which lacked Books III-IV. More than a dissertation on hunting, this work is considered the first zoological treatise written in the critical spirt of modern science, centuries before the scientific revolution. Besides the most detailed exposition of the method of hunting with falcons, the work concerns the anatomy of birds, a description of avian habits, and the excursion of migratory birds. Written during the 1240s by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, who was also an accomplished linguist and scholar, the original manuscript was lost in 1248 at the siege of Parma.

Manuscripts of De arte venandi cum avibus exist in a two-book version at Rome, Vienna, Paris (2x), Geneva and Stuttgart, and in a six-book version at Bologna, Paris, Nantes, Valencia, Rennes, and Oxford. The most famous is an illuminated manuscript commissioned by Manfred, son of Frederick II: a two-column parchment codex of 111 folios ( Vatican, MS. Pal. Lat. 1071). This manuscript of the two book version and is illustrated with brilliantly colored, extraordinarily lifelike, accurate and minute images of birds, their attendants, and the instruments of the art. The manuscript also contains additions made by Manfred, which are all clearly marked in the beginning by notations such as "Rex", "Rex Manfredus" or "addidit Rex".

Facsimile edition of the manuscript: Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt, 1969.  Digital facsimile of the 1596 edition from Google Books at this link. 

De observatione ciborum ("On the Observance of Foods") by Anthimus, a Byzantine physician at the court of the Ostrogoth king Theodoric, concerns foods and their preparations as well as the use of foods for selected ailments such as dysentery, diarrhea, edema, and fever. It was edited by Valentine Rose from two 9th century codices in St. Gall and Bamberg, an 11th century manuscript at St. Gall, and a 12th century manuscript at Paris. Digital facsimile of the 1877 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. English translation by Mark Grant as Anthimus: On the observance of foods (1996).

Digital facsimile from The Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link. 

This contains useful information not included in the third edition (1990). See No. 6786.34.

The earliest sale catalogue of a private scientific or medical library may be that of Jean Riolan the Younger. John F. Fulton (1899-1960) owned a possibly unique copy of an inventory sale catalogue of Riolan’s library issued by the Parisian booksellers Simeon Piget and Federicus Leonard in 1654. The library must have been purchased outright by John Martyn and James Allestrye, booksellers for the Royal Society, as they issued the above inventory sale catalogue of the complete library in 1665. Fulton observed that neither of the Riolan catalogues include prices and tentatively concluded that the books were disposed of to the highest offer through private negotiation. See Fulton, The great medical bibliographers (1951) 27-28.

Auction catalogue of the libraries of Sir Thomas Browne and his son Dr. Edward Browne. Digital facsimile of a xerographic copy from the Hathi Trust at this link.

As a result of the burning of his home and the destruction of his library, which included numerous unpublished manuscripts on a wide range of subjects, Bartholin published  what was intended to be work of self-consolation. He recounted examples in history of other library losses through fire, and catalogued and summarized the vast amount of his intellectual work that was "lost to Vulcan." He also consoled himself with a bibliographical list of his works that had already been published in print, and thus had their content protected from catastrophic loss from fire. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. For further details see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

The most extensive library sold at auction in London during the seventeenth century, with almost 15,000 lots, of which only part was medical. Bernard was Physician to James II.

The auction catalogue of the celebrated library formed by the physician and classical scholar Askew, third owner of the famous gold-headed cane. Askew attempted to secure a complete series of all the Greek classics ever published; he purchased  Richard Mead's Greek manuscripts, the papers of Dr. Taylor and some fine early classical codices from the library of the Maffei family." Among the principal purchasers of Askew's books were William Hunter, the British Museum, and the kings of England and France. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Mead's library consisted of upwards of 10,000  printed volumes, and many rare and valuable manuscripts. The collection was especially rich in medical works, and in early editions of the classics; it realized over £5,500 in a sale that lasted no fewer than 28 days. Mead was also a collector of classical antiquities, paintings, coins, and medals. His art collections, including several Rembrandts, realized £10,550. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

After ships anchored in Texas City exploded in 1947, injuring and burning some 3,000 persons, the Blockers published a survey of the casualties. For this and other research studies involving trauma and burns the Blockers received the Harvey Allen Award from the American Burn Association in 1971. See also Blocker, V. "The Texas City disaster; pattern of injury in 3,000 casualties," Tex Rep Biol Med. (1949) 7 (1) 22-32.

Boerhaave’s library contained about 3,300 volumes on a wide range of subjects, including many outstanding illustrated works in botany and fine illustrated works on anatomy. As one would have expected, Boerhaave, the editor of a new edition of the writings of Vesalius, owned a first edition of the Fabrica. What one might not have expected was that he also owned all of the rare first editions of Berengario da Carpi, whose anatomical works prior to Vesalius would certainly have had no practical scientific value by the eighteenth century. Boerhaave also owned a fifteenth-century edition of Mondino, confirming that he was a book collector as well as a scholar. At the end of the catalogue is a group of “Libri Prohibiti” including first editions of Spinoza. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Starting with Trotula, this study concerns medieval and early modern material up to about 1600.

Reproduction of 51 drawings from Trinity College, Cambridge, MS 0.1.20 of the surgery of Roger of Parma, best known as Roger of Salerno, with detailed explanation of each drawing by Tony Hunt.

Explains scentific subjects and procedures for the lay person or general practitioner and then discusses the history of these topics; well-documented with bibliographical references; illustrated in color throughout.

Barraquer was the first to sculpt corneal stromal tissue to change corneal curvature. He developed a procedure which he called "keratomileusis," (sculpting of the cornea). This involved ressecting a disc of anterior corneal tissue, which was then frozen in liquid nitrogen, placed on a modified watchmaker's lathe and milled to change corneal curvature. See also  Barraquer, "Autokeratoplasty, with optical carving for the correction of myopia (Karatomileusis)," An. Med. Espec. 51 (1965) 66-82.

Though several researchers developed the procedures for using an excimer laser to perform in situ karatomileusis (LASIK), "Pallikaris also independently conceived of a hinged flap using a microkeratome he had specifically designed for rabbit studies and performed the ablation with an excimer laser on the exposed bed followed by replacement of the flap without sutures. The term LASIK was first used to describe this procedure in his 1990 paper. Pallikaris treated his first patients in October 1990 and published his results on 10 high myopic human eyes with one year-follow-up in 1994" (Reinstein, Archer, Gobbe, "Birth of Lasik" IN: Goes (ed.) The eye in history [2013] 436).

In 1985 Seiler performed the first large area ablation in a human eye to remove a corneal scar, having previously performed T-incisions with an excimer laser to correct for astigmatism.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

In this paper published on May 30, 1953 Watson and Crick proposed the method of replication of DNA. This discovery has been called as significant, or possibly even more significant, than their discovery of the double-helical structure of DNA published in April 1953. 

Vivid first hand account of the discovery, renowned for its candor. See also the Norton Critical Edition of The double helix with supporting material, edited by Gunther Stent (1980), and The annotated and illustrated Double Helix, edited by Alexander Gann & Jan Witkowski (2012).

Written in Latin verse, the Anglicus ortus describes in considerable detail the medicinal uses of 160 plants. Edition based on collation of the five extant manuscripts of the text, plus parallel Latin text and English translation, plus detailed commentary.

English translation, edited by Edward F. Domino, as History of psychopharmacology. 4 vols. Arlington, MA: NPP Books, 2014.

Detailed historical analysis and English translation of medical manuscripts buried with their owner in 168 BCE and unearthed in Mawangdui, Hunan, in 1973, representing Chinese medical traditions from the 4th to 2nd centuries BCE. Before these texts were unearthed the earliest extant medical text from China was the Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor compiled in the first century BCE. 

The Commentaria in de motu et de incessu animalium by the Byzantine writer Michael of Ephesus are the only surviving commentaries in Greek on Aristotle's De motu animalium and De incessu animalium. This edition provides English translations of Aristotle's texts and Michael's commentaries, with detailed explanatory notes for both.

A Byzantine anatomical and physiological treatise almost entirely abridged from Galen's "De usu partium corporis humani," from which Theophilus now and then differed, and which he sometimes appears to have misunderstood. "In the fifth book he has inserted large extracts from Hippocrates' 'De Genitura,' and 'De Natura Pueri."'He recommends in several places the dissection of animals, but he does not appear ever to have examined a human body: in one passage he advises the student to dissect an ape, or else a bear, or, if neither of these animals can be procured, to take whatever he can get, 'but by all means,' he adds, 'let him dissect something' " (Wikipedia article on Theophilus Protospatharius). This is apparently the only surviving medical treatise by Theophilus. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

A study of Wang Ji's Shishan yian (Stone Mountain medical case histories) first published in print in 1531.

This work, in three juan with a supplement and in three volumes, was written by Wang Ji (1463–1539), physician and member of a Ming dynasty medical family, and originally published in manuscript in 1520. The manuscript was edited  by his disciple, Chen Jiao, and printed by Chen Jiao in the tenth year of the Jiajing reign (1531). "The preface was written by Cheng Zeng and is also dated 1531. Included are two portraits of the author, inscriptions by Li Fan, Cheng Wenjie, and Chen Jiao, and the author’s recommendation. Wang Ji (style name Shi shan ju shi), a native of Qimen, Huizhou, Anhui Province, studied Confucian teachings in his early years and, after unsuccessful civil examinations, devoted himself to medicine. He was the author of 13 works, among them this collection of his cases. Wang Ji basically followed the teachings of the famed Yuan dynasty physician Zhu Zhenheng (circa 1281–1358), as is known from one of his other books, Tui qiu shi yi (Ascertain the master’s meanings). Ancient Chinese medical cases record the process and result of treatments. Such medical records could be found as early as in the Western Han (206 BC–8 AD), the earliest being a collection of 25 cases of Chun Yuyi (205–150 BC). Such records could be brief or lengthy. Each record contained the name, sex, age, social status, shape of the body, cause of the disease, symptoms, diagnoses, prescription, prognosis, and so forth. These records also reflect the physician–patient relationships. Early medical cases were issued mostly as appendices to other works. From the mid- and late-Ming dynasty, physicians began to publish them as individual works, thus creating a new form of medical writing to be examined, referenced, and used for education....This work records not only clinical experience; it also provides information on various diseases, especially those suffered by the male population, such as syphilis, which was seen as a health crisis in the region south of the Yangtze River, where flourishing trade and commerce helped to spread the disease" (http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7114/, accessed 8-9-2015). Digital facsimile of the 1531 edition from the World Digital Library at this link.

Describes the transformation of Chinese medicine from a marginal, sidelined medical practice of the early 20th century to an essential and high profile part of the national health care system under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

An encyclopedia of medicines, mostly derived from plants, completed about the year 1317. The medicines are arranged in alphabetical order. Two printed editions were issued in 1474. The first, issued in Naples, appeared on April 1, 1474; ISTC No. is00510000. The second, edited by Matthaeus Moretus was issued in Modena or Bologna by Johannes Vurster in July 1474; ISTC No. is00511000. Digital facsimile of the Modena /Bologna edition from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

Avista Studies in the History of Medieval Technology, Science and Art Volume 5.

Together with Louisa Garrett Anderson (1873-1943), to whom the book was dedicated, Murray co-founded the Women's Hospital for Children in 1912. The hospital provided health care for working-class children of the area, and also provided women doctors their only opportunity to gain clinical experience in pediatrics in London; the hospital's motto was Deeds not Words. In WWI Murray and Anderson served in France with the Women's Hospital Corps (WHC), establishing military hospitals for the French Army in Paris and Wimereux. Their proposals were at first rejected by the British authorities, but eventually the WHC became established at the Endell Street Military Hospital, Holborn, London staffed entirely by women, from chief surgeon to orderlies. Digital facsimile from The Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive at this link.

Young discovered the squid giant synapse, a chemical synapse found in squid, and the largest chemical junction in nature.

An edition of BnF Ms. suppl. turc 693.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Forewards by Leslie A. Geddes and Paul U. Unschuld. Introduction by Jeremy M. Norman. Unusually well designed and produced.

Hessler, editor and translator of the first edition of Suśruta published in the West (3 vols., 1844-50) followed that edition with two separate volumes of commentary.

Wise was a physician and surgeon in the Bengal Medical Service. Digital facsimile from The Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

Comprehensive analysis of German accomplishments in aviation and aerospace medicine during World War II, written by 56 mostly specialist German physicians and scientists from the Nazi regime who were brought to the United States after the war and made U.S. citizens through Project Paperclip. Thorough bibliographies with every chapter. Introductory overview and summary chapter by Hubertus Strughold. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Compendium of aerospace medicine during the Nazi regime. Ruff was director of the Aviation Medicine Department at the German Experimental Institute for Aviation. Though he was later indicted for war crimes, Ruff was not punished, and enjoyed a distinguished medical career in postwar Germany.
After World War II Strughold became a U.S. citizen through Project Paperclip and became a prominent researcher in aerospace medicine in the U.S. Such was the reputation of both authors that this work underwent a third, revised edition as late as 1957-- highly unusual for a publication that originated in a Nazi research center.
In the U.S. a prestigious award was named in Strughold's honor; however, after his death Strughold's association with Nazi torture experiments became known, and the Strughold award was "retired" by the Space Medicine Association in 2013.

Proceedings of the first symposium on high altitude physics and medicine sponsored in the U.S. after World War II, summarizing research done in the nascent U.S. space program based on the V2 rocket, the WAC Corporal rocket and the Viking rocket, up to November, 1951.  Among the contributors were Fritz Haber, Heinz Haber, Herman J. Muller, Victor Regener, Hubertus Strughold, James A. van Allen, Wernher von Braun, and Fred Lawrence Whipple. All chapters included thorough bibliographies.

Chapters on controversial government experimental programs in Senegal, in Germany under the Nazi regime, including in concentration camps and in aerospace research, and also the Tuskegee syphilis experiment in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Schrötter conducted a great deal of research on the physiological influence of barometric pressure and was one of the first to apply these observations to aviation medicine. Following flight tests he was the first to propose a closed, pressurized aluminum cabin, such as was later used by Auguste Piccard. Schrötter preceded this with Hygiene der Aeronautik (Frankfurt, 1909.)

Luftfahrt und Wissenschaft, herausgegeben on Joseph Stricker. Heft 3.

An encyclopedic work on sexuality and physical love in all its aspects, practical and credulous, including the widest variety of possible positions, the anatomy and physiology of the sexual organs and varous aspects of sexuality including arousal, masturbation, eunuchs, aphrodisiacs, nocturnal emissions etc. etc. It was first translated into English in bowderized form as The cabinet of venus unlocked and her secrets laid open (1658). Digital facsimile of the 1642 edition from Google Books at this link.

The first handbook on female sex hormones. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Anthology of selections from the writings of some of the more famous English physician travellers.

Appendix 1 contains a listing of the many medical books in the library of Thomas Jefferson.

A study of illuminated medieval herbals from 512-1450 CE.

An annotated bibliography of recommended books for the aspiring physician, arranged by subject, and chronologically by date of publication within each subject, with an author index at the end. Digital facsimile of the 1788 edition from Google Books at this link.

Ruel, a native of Soissons, was physician to François I. This book, commissioned by the king, was a Latin translation of a collection of excerpts from Greek veterinary writers on equine disease, compiled circa 900 CE: a Byzantine encyclopedia of horse medicine known as Hippiatrika. Nothing is known of many of the authors mentioned—Apsyrtus, Theomnestus, Eumelus, Hierocles, etc.— apart from these extracts. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

The collection was first published in Greek by Joannis Volderus of Basel, edited by Simon Grynaeus, in 1537.

An encyclopedia of the sexual sciences. English translation by M. Eden Paul from the sixth German edition as The sexual life of our time in its relations to modern civilization (1909). Digital facsimile of the 1907 German edition from the Internet Archive at this link. Digital facsimile of the 1909 English translation from the Internet Archive at this link.