Classical works

The great development of western medicine which occurred during the Enlightenment and modern period has its roots in the rediscovery of classical medical writings during the Renaissance. The surviving printed copies of Aristotle, Hippocrates, Galen, Discorides, Celsus and other ancient luminaries bear the editorial hand of the most eminent doctors of the day, and often the handwritten annotations of several generations of readers. Collections of early printed medical books can be compared to archaeological digs but the yield is of ideas rather than artefacts.

The value placed on these books at the time can be gauged by the biblical splendour of their production, and it can only be regarded as a small miracle that so many are collected together in the University of Sydney Library, truly Sidere mens eadum mutato.