Abstract
In a herculean effort, Sir William Osler wrote the world’s first comprehensive medical reference book, Principles and Practice of Medicine. It was published by Appleton in 1892 and continued in print until the 16th edition, published in 1947, thus taking quite a long time to go out of vogue. The effort was heroic because Osler wrote every word himself—no contributed chapters for him—a task that took 3 years. His fiancé refused to marry him until the manuscript was complete. Following Osler’s retirement, later editions of the book were a collection of contributions by Johns Hopkins faculty members [2].
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
If my memory is correct, I read this tale of three authors in the preface to a book published about 25 years ago. I cannot recall the name of the author or book and, to help me avoid accidental plagiarism, I would be grateful if a reader could supply this information for the next edition of Medical Writing.
references
Osler W. Dr. Osler to students. Oklahoma Med J. 1900;8:53.
Taylor RB. White coat tales: medicine’s heroes, heritage and misadventures. New York: Springer; 2008, pages 191–192.
LaVigne P. Seeking publication. In: Taylor RB, Munning KA, eds. Written communication in family medicine. New York: Springer-Verlag; 1984:57.
Scherger JE, Taylor RB. Writing a medical article. In: Taylor RB, Munning KA, eds. Written communication in family medicine. New York: Springer-Verlag; 1984:33–42.
Churchill W. Quoted in: Humes JC. The wit and wisdom of Winston Churchill. New York: Harper Perennial; 1995.
Dusseau JL. An informal history of W. B. Saunders Company: On the occasion of its hundredth anniversary. Philadelphia: Saunders; 1988.
Speroff L, Fritz MA. A way with words: Leon Speroff, MD describes the growth and evolution of reproductive endocrinology. Sexuality, Reproduction & Menopause. 2008;6(2):6–7.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Taylor, R.B. (2012). 8 Writing Book Chapters and Books. In: Medical Writing. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8234-6_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8234-6_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-8233-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-8234-6
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)