Treatise on surgery

Born in Madinat al-Zahra in Spain, as his name suggests (al-Zahrāwī), the work’s author, known in Andalusia as Abulcasis (936–1013), was one of the most famous Arab authors in the field of surgery. He was personal physician to the caliphs ‘Abd al-Rahmān III and al-Hakam II, and was renowned for his numerous works: amongst others they include Al-maqāla fī al-‘amali bi al-yad (Treatise on manual work), Tafsīr al-akyāl wa al-awzān (Commentary on weights and measures), and the Kitāb al-Tasrīf, which was very successful and addressed the subjects of surgery, beauty, medicinal doses, and the elaboration of remedies. The work was based on Greek sources translated into Arabic, especially that of the Byzantine Paulus of Aegina (cited by the author in the last chapters of his work), as well as Glinus, the Jew Mussa ibn al-Azzaz, Ahmad ibn Hanna, Ibn Jaljal, Ibn Massawi, Yahya ibn Jabar, and Abū ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-Susī.

As the thirtieth volume of a medical encyclopaedia (the set of volumes is incomplete), this illustrated surgical treatise was one of the most commonly produced ones. Numerous volumes were created between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries. This volume, which comprises three hundred and twenty-nine pages, is bound in a gilded red cover. The text incorporates illustrations of surgical instruments enhanced in red and yellow. The writing, diacritic points, orthoepic symbols, and the rare vocalization are all in black ink. The titles, which are larger, are also written in black ink.

Leaves 157 and 158 are part of a chapter on cauterizing: two illustrations of cauterizing instruments (metal rods whose extremities were heated to cauterize tissues and avoid infections) are represented opposite scissors. The author also broaches the subject of amputation in this volume, along with dental care, obstetrics, fractures, and luxations … the paintings in this manuscript are real medical illustrations—a sort of overview of common surgical instruments that were used in the Mediterranean in medieval times.

It is noteworthy that this work was translated many times. It was translated into Hebrew in Marseille in 1258 by a Spanish Jewish doctor, Shem-Tov ben Isaac de Tortose, and into Turkish as a dedication to the Ottoman sultan Mehmet II; this work, which was also well illustrated, was produced in 1465 by the doctor Sharaf al-Dīn ‘Alī. Gerard of Cremona translated it into Latin (in the twelfth century) in Toledo. It traced the development of European surgery from the thirteenth century onwards and was used as a reference work in every university for more than 500 years. As many as ten Latin versions were produced between 1497 and 1544. A Latin edition was also produced in Oxford in 1778.

Other more complete copies of this manuscript are held at the al-Hassania Library in Rabat.