Dorland's Medical Dictionary
Dorland's is the brand name of several different medical dictionaries and ancillary products, chiefly Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary (currently in its 31st edition) and Dorland's Pocket Medical Dictionary (currently in its 27th edition). The principal dictionary was first published in 1890 as the American Illustrated Medical Dictionary, including 770 pages. The pocket edition, called the American Pocket Medical Dictionary, was first published in 1898, consisting of just over 500 pages.
With the death of the editor William Alexander Newman Dorland, AM, MD in 1956, the dictionaries were retitled to incorporate his name, which was how they had generally come to be known. The illustrated dictionary has grown to 2208 pages for the 31st edition.
List of products in the Dorland's family (past and present)
- American Illustrated Medical Dictionary (until 1956)
- American Pocket Medical Dictionary (until 1956)
- Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary (currently in its 31st edition)
- Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary on CD-ROM
- Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary online
- Dorland's Pocket Medical Dictionary (currently in its 27th edition)
- Dorland's Pocket Medical Dictionary on CD-ROM
- Dorland's Medical Speller (1992)
- Dorland's Medical Abbreviations (1992)
Publisher
Dorland's was published for over a century by the W.B. Saunders Company, which was an independent medical publisher during most of that time. In the 1980s and 1990s, W.B. Saunders was acquired first by CBS and then by Harcourt. Today the company has been absorbed into Elsevier, where the name Saunders (without the W.B. ) is used as an imprint name.
The most recent edition of Dorland's Illustrated, the 31st, is available in electronic format.
See also
List of Major Online Medical Dictionaries