Hemard's Libellus: A Controversy of Translation and Plagiarism in Renaissance Dental Medicine, as Confirmed by a Newly Discovered Copy of Eustachio's de Dentibus.

In 1563, the Italian anatomist Bartolomeo Eustachio published Libellus de Dentibus, the first book on dental anatomy. Subsequently, the surgeon Urbain Hemard authored Recherche de la Vraye Anathomie des Dents in 1582, the first book on dentistry in the French language. Hemard and Eustachio, two names integral in the biblio-historical development of dentistry, have been intertwined in a philological controversy ever since, with historians debating charges of plagiarism. Hemard's commentary on dental anatomy bears striking resemblance to Eustachio's, with the bulk of the text being an exact French translation. This essay will introduce a newly discovered copy of Eustachio's Libellus that bears the signature of Hemard, thus, reinforcing the plagiarism charges. However, the historiographical debate has been buttressed simply on the contents of the two books, with little attention paid to the socio-political influences that could have directed Hemard towards textual annexation. In sixteenth-century Europe, cultural animosity was percolating within political and social spheres, and seeping into the publishing industry. French translations of foreign texts were viewed as a defense against Italian cultural intrusion. This essay will argue that given the prestige of Italian anatomical knowledge, Hemard may have felt justified in annexing the work of his foreign contemporary as a defense of French national identity, and ultimately, since Eustachio was mired in obscurity in his time, he could have seized the opportunity to elevate his status as a great anatomist.