Book Designs

• It was through the written word that formal medical knowledge was transmitted from one generation of physicians to another and from one region to another.
• The arts of the written book were highly developed at this time in the Arab world.
• In the Islamic world, nearly all manuscripts were written on paper, which was in plentiful supply in the Middle East by the 9th century.
• Printing, on the other hand, came relatively recently to the Middle East (essentially not until the 19th century). Only by hiring a scribe to prepare a copy by hand, or copying it himself, could a physician possess his own copy of a book.
• The calligraphic skills of the scribe or specialist illuminator were applied to presentation copies of treatises on every subject, including scientific and medical books. In contrast to the illuminated initials used in Western manuscripts which draw the attention to one focal point on the page, in Islamic manuscripts the entire text itself is part of the design
• Human anatomy was a topic to receive the attention of illustrators.
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SPECIALIZED LITERATURE

• Large numbers of treatises were devoted to the diagnosis and treatment of a specific disease or to diseases affecting a particular part of the body. For example …
• Forgetfulness
• Poisonous bites
• Hemorrhoids
• Particular classes of potential patients were also the subject of a number of treatises. For example
  
• The poor and the destitute
• Travelers