Harley MS 3745, ff 75r-158v

Yūhannā ibn Sarābiyūn (Serapion the Elder), Breviarium medicinae. Latin translation. Copy. The Breviarium medicinae (or Practica Serapionis) is the Latin translation by Gerardus Cremonensis, i.e. Gerard of Cremona (c. 1114-1187) of the Arabic version of a work known as the Small Compendium and originally written in Syriac by Yūhannā ibn Sarābiyūn (second half of the 9th century) or Serapion the Elder as he was called in the West. Running title (f. 75r) 'Liber primus', rubric 'Tractatus pri/mus libri iohannis / filii serapionis / medici. Transl/atus a m/agistro / Ger/aldo / crem/onensi / de arabi/co in latinum', incipit: 'Inquid Johannes. Incipiamus / cum auxilio dei et bonitate ipsius / inspirationis eius librum', explicit (f. 158v): 'Completum est postre/mum agregationis ex libro medicine editione / iohannis filii serapionis. Deo gratias'. The text is divided into seven books or treatises, beginning respectively on ff. 75r, 83r, 92v, 100r, 112v, 124v, 129v.

Another copy of the text is Harley MS 1914. For the author and his work see P. E. Pormann, 'Yūhannā ibn Sarābiyūn: Further Studies into the Transmission of his Works', Arabic sciences and philosophy, 14 (2004), 233-62, with further bibliography. For the text see also L. Thorndike and P. Kibre, Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin, The Mediaeval Academy of America Publication, 29 (London, 1963; with supplements in 1965 and 1968), p. 723h, and its electronic version, its electronic edition (Ann Arbor, MI, 2000), no. 723H. Printed for the first time in Venice by Raynaldus Noviomagensis Alemannus on 1 Aug. 1479: see H *14693; William Osler, Incunabula Medica: A Study of the Earliest Printed Medical Books 1467-1480 (Oxford: 1923), pp. 110, no. 174; Arnold C. Klebs, Incunabula scientifica et medica (Bruges: 1938; repr. Hildesheim: 1963), p. 304, no. 912.1; ISTC is00465000.