De Medicine Claris Scriptoribus is a landmark work in the history of medicine as well as the history of books. It represents one of the first efforts to systematically organize printed books on a particular topic (in this case medicine, broadly defined), making it an early attempt at bibliography. The book was printed in 1506 as one part of a six-part work, and it was compiled and written by Symphorien Champier. He had a colorful and varied career typical of an educated and motivated man in the early renaissance. As described by Estelle Brodman in The Development of Medical Bibliography, Champier "was a native of Lyons; a graduate of Montpellier in 1498; fellow of the medical school at Paris in 1515; physician to Charles VIII, Louis XII, and the Duke of Lorraine; patron of Servetus; historian of medicine; Renaissance courtier; compiler of one of the earliest medical dictionaries." De Medicine Claris Scriptoribus is divided into five sections which reflect the current thinking about medicine, distinguishing ancient writers, church writers, and various nationalities and languages. Although brief and simplistic in its descriptions of the books it lists, the work is notable to bibliographers and librarians as one of the first attempts to make the rapidly expanding availability of printed books more accessible to those who would benefit from reading them.

The Ebling Library's copy of De Medicine Claris Scriptoribus contains many interesting features. The author's name and the book title are written across the bottom of the closed pages, since books used to be stored lying flat on the shelf. The front and back endpapers are sheets of vellum with an elaborate script written over them, which were likely added some time after the books was printed and originally bound. Click on the images to the left to examine these details.