Compendio de la Salud Humana

A fascinating look inside the human body from an early anatomical textbook, the Spanish translation of the Fasciculus medicinae, the first printed book to contain anatomical illustrations and was published in Vienna in 1491. An anonymous Castilian is responsible for the translation of the Compendio de la Salud Humana, which was published in Zaragoza on August 14th, 1494 by the German printer Pablo Hurus (active 1484-99). It has been theorized that the author is either a certain Johannes de Kethan or perhaps Hans von Kircheim (active 1455-70), who used the compendium as a teaching aid while a professor of medicine in Vienna. Although the original manuscript is from early in the 15th century, this printed book is the first Spanish edition. The text is neatly presented in two columns with engraved initials and woodcuts preceding the chapters, which can also be found elsewhere in the text and include some double-pages. Aside from the purely anatomical, the contents include a prayer to Saint Sebastian to guard against the plague along with a woodcut of him, and the Tractado de la peste by Vasco de Taranta, which also concerns the plague. Unfortunately, the page detailing the female body was mutilated, and thus the codex is incomplete. Nonetheless, this is an important early contribution to the emerging science of anatomy.