The History of Medical Bibliography and the Development of the Idea of Infectious Disease Between Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to underline the importance of the main medical bibliographies printed during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century, as instrument of transmission and information of the most important medical ideas. The history of medical bibliography is like a mirror where it is possible to recognize the main features of the medical knowledge and of its development during the centuries. The paper analyzes how the idea of infectious disease is documented in the main medical bibliography of the Sixteenth and the Seventeenth centuries and how it developed in relationship with the structure of the medical bibliographies. The study offers a concrete example of the importance and usefulness of the history of medical bibliography to the historians of medicine in their research.