Alexia without agraphia (also called pure alexia or word blindness) was the first of the disconnection syndromes (syndromes caused by disconnection of the right from the left cerebral hemisphere through interruption of the communication pathways between them) to be described. Déjerine in 1892 reported a patient who developed this syndrome after an infarct of the left occipital lobe and splenium of the corpus callosum. We describe a patient who developed alexia without agraphia due to an embolic left occipital lobe infarct extending to the posterior commissure and splenium of the corpus callosum.