We review most of the work published, to our knowledge, between 1880 and 1988 on aphasia due to right cerebral lesions in right-handed patients ("crossed aphasia"). We summarize the 87 cases found in chronological order within defined groups, dealing in greater detail with the less well-known cases in English-language publications and with the cases from other sources that we consider most representative and convincing. The 87 cases fall into three groups on the following criteria: right-handedness (on standardized tests), absence of left-handers in the family, left hemisphere integrity. Group 1 comprises cases that are unreliable because the handedness data are missing and/or because left hemisphere lesions were known to be present or probably were so. Group 2 comprises cases with full clinical data but no formal test of handedness, with familial cases of left-handedness and/or without satisfactory evidence of left hemisphere integrity. Groups 3 comprises the 26 reliable cases, that is those with proven right-handedness, no left-handers in the family and with proven hemisphere integrity. We discuss the implications of these cases.