CUL: the great collections

Hebrew medical manuscript

Italy, fifteenth century A.D.

Compiled in whole or in part by Joseph ben Isaac, this work incorporates extracts from well-known authors, including Maimonides, Abraham Ibn Ezra, and Hippocrates; its serious diagnostic notes also include 'three sonnets in Italian, but written in Hebrew characters, on the colours of urines'. The miniature illustrates the topic of bloodletting.

From the collection of Isaac Faraji, or Pragi, made in Italy and purchased by Parliament in 1647 from a London bookseller for presentation to Cambridge.