Development of the collection
There were two original phases in acquiring rare books in science and medicine. The first was the opening of the UBC under the first president, Dr. Frank Wesbrook (1868-1918). The second phase was the opening of Woodward Library with designated space, the Charles Woodward Memorial Room, for housing the “medical milestones.”
In the earlier phase there were a couple of significant gifts from Sir Charles Sherrington (1857-1952) to Wesbrook. The two men had been undergraduates together at Cambridge University in the 1890s and remained friends. The first gift, which was given to mark the occasion of the opening of UBC in 1915, was an annotated and signed copy of Anatomia Humani Corporis (1685) by Godefridi Bidloo to Wesbrook. This copy was previously owned by Hawksmoor, apprentice to Christopher Wren (who himself had been an anatomist before becoming an architect), and before sending it, Sherrington had notable physicians sign the book. These signatures include those of Sir William Osler, eminent Canadian physician, and John McRae, author of In Flanders Field.
Sherrington's second gift was given to the University library in memoriam to Wesbrook, who had died in 1918. It is an incunabulum, Valla's Elegantiae Linguae Latinae Libri Sex (1476), and is annotated with fists and contemporaneous marginalia in red. William Gibson, who was a pupil of Sherrington’s, brought it back with him on his return to Canada in 1938.
In addition to these specific gifts, other medical rare book acquisitions during this early period were acquired, by exchange with the Wellcome Library in London and by book buying expeditions by Robert McKechnie, Basil Stuart Stubbs and others.
The second phase of acquisitions took place with the building of the Woodward Biomedical Library, now known as Woodward Library. The major donor for this library, P. A. (Puggy) Woodward (1888-1968), wished to show students "the milestones of science - the first time any new discovery was published". The goal to acquire first editions of "medical milestones" gained impetus with two significant purchases; the libraries of Chauncy Depew Leake in 1963 and of Hugh Macdonald Sinclair in 1965. These were funded from the Woodward Foundation and from H.R. Macmillan respectively.
The collection continued to grow in support of the history of medicine courses and notable acquisitions of this period include collections from Gerald Korn, Claude Dolman and the Vancouver Medical Association. In 1988 the collection of science and medicine was named the William C. Gibson History of Medicine and Science Collection in recognition of his commitment to the development of the Woodard library and service to UBC. In 2014, the rare books in Woodward Library were moved to Rare Books and Special Collections for better access and preservation.
William C Gibson History of Science and Medicine Collection
The W. C. Gibson History of Science & Medicine Collection, which contains rare books, manuscripts, medical biographies and books about medical history, is named for Dr. William C.Gibson (1913-2009) in recognition of his efforts in creating the historical book collection. Gibson’s remarks about the historical collection at the dedication ceremony September 7th, 1988 are available here.
Dr. Gibson joined the Faculty of Medicine at UBC in 1950 as a clinical researcher and associate professor. He was instrumental in the opening of the medical school after which he became Director of the Kinsman Laboratory for Neurological Research. From 1960 to 1978 he served as Professor and Head of the History of Medicine and Science Department. During that time he spearheaded the building of the Woodward Biomedical Library and was particularly involved in the purchases of antiquarian books for the Charles Woodward Memorial Room.
The motivation behind acquiring these rare books was to show students "the milestones of science - the first time any new discovery was published". The personal collections of Chauncey Leake, a US pharmacologist and medical historian, Hugh M. Sinclair, an Oxford lecturer and researcher, and Sir Robert MacIntosh, an Oxford professor of anesthesiology, were among the purchases that comprise the core of the collection. Additional collections have since been acquired from Claude Dolman and the Vancouver Medical Association, and special collections in obstetrics and gynecology from Dr. Gerald Korn, and in dermatology from Dr. McLean.
Dr. Gibson was a student of Sir Charles Sherrington and through this connection UBC Library acquired his fonds. Other archival material in the collection include the Darwin and the Florence Nightingale letters as well as early medical British Columbia history documents.
The rare books and manuscripts in this collection, which were housed in the purposefully built Charles Woodward Memorial Room, are now available in UBC Rare Books and Special Collections. Highlights of this collection and others are showcased elsewhere on this guide.
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Search the Gibson CollectionOver 5600 books located in Rare Books and Special Collections (for historical books) or Woodward Library (for modern books about history of medicine)
McLean Dermatology Collection
The collection of 172 dermatology books dating mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries was acquired from Dr. David I. McLean in 2016.
Gerald W. Korn Obstetrics and Gynecology Collection
G
erald W. Korn practised obstetrics and gynecology in Vancouver and taught as a clinical professor at UBC from 1973 to 1990. Over the years he amassed a fine collection of early obstetrics and midwifery books, including works by E. Roesslin, F. Mauriceau, William Smellie, and J.Y. Simpson. Several large anatomical atlases are part of the collection. In 1997, he gifted his collection of 112 early obstetrics, gynecology and midwifery books to UBC Library.
Selected titles are listed below, with digital copies of the book (where available) linked through the book title and, and links to the UBC Library Catalogue are provided through the call number.
- Search the Korn CollectionSearch the full collection of historical obstetrics and gynecology books located at Rare Books and Special Collections.
Featured titles from the Korn Collection
- Daraus man alle Heimligkeit dess Weiblichen Geschlechts erkennen kan : Dessgleichen von ihrer Geburt, sampt mancherley Artzney der Krauter : auch von tugendt der edlen Gestein und der Thier byCall Number: WZ250 .A434 1608Publication Date: 1608Albertus Magnus was a German physician who recommended hog testes for impotence, and powdered hare womb for infertile women.
Available through Google Books - Diez previlegios para mugeres preñadas : con un diccionario medico. byCall Number: WZ250.A465Publication Date: 1606Available through Google Books.
- Historia obstetricia byCall Number: WZ260.H588 1700zPublication Date: 1700No electronic text available.
- Aristotle's compleat and experienc'd midwife byCall Number: WZ250.A758 1700Publication Date: 1700“The author, editor or compiler of this precious rubbish was William Salmon (1644-1713), a well-known sixteenth century quack.” (D’Arcy Power in The foundations of medical history, 1931, p 171 (WZ9.P6 1931)
2nd edition available from Gale 18th Century Collections online. UBC subscription required to view. - A treatise on all the diseases incident to women : containing an account of their causes, differences, symptoms, diagnostics, prognostics, and cure. byCall Number: WZ260.A8813 1743Publication Date: 1743Translated from a manuscript copy of the author's lectures read at Paris, 1740. First edition in English. Astruc documented genital herpes as a clinical entity. He published treatises on syphilis, smallpox, women’s diseases, and wrote extensively on tumors.
Available from Google Books - De virginum et mulierum morbis byCall Number: WZ250.B334 1643Publication Date: 1643First edition.
Available from Hathi Trust Digital Library - On the treatment of rupture of the female perineum; immediate and remote byCall Number: WP.B358 1878Publication Date: 1878Bantock opposed the antisepsis proposed by Lister and Semmelweis.
Available from Google Books - Caspari Bartholini Thom. f. de ovariis mulierum et generationis historia byCall Number: WZ250.B378 1678Publication Date: 1678Danish anatomist Caspar Bartholin described the vulvovaginal gland and its ducts.
Provided by the Bavarian State University. - Traité de la péritonite puerpéral byCall Number: WQ.B383 1830Publication Date: 1830Provided by Google Books.
- L'art des accouchemens, Volume 1 byCall Number: WZ260.B383 1781Publication Date: 1781First edition. “Baudelocque invented a pelvimeter and advanced the knowledge of pelvimetry and of the mechanism of labour. The external conjugate diameter is known as ‘Baudelocque’s diameter’. English translation, London, 1790.”
Provided by the Internet Archive - L'art des accouchemens, Volume 2 byCall Number: WZ260.B383 1781Publication Date: 1781Provided by the Internet Archive
- The span of gestation and the cause of birth : a study of the critical period and its effects in mammalia byCall Number: QP281.B427 1897Publication Date: 1897Provided by the Internet Archive
- Kalogynomia, or, The laws of female beauty : being the elementary principles of that science. byCall Number: HQ31.B445 1821Publication Date: 1821"Plates 10, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24 should not be carelessly exposed either to Ladies or to Young Persons. These Plates are therefore stitched up separately ... they are therefore detached from the work, and may be locked up separately".
Provided by the Internet Archive - The sex-complex : a study of the relationships of the internal secretions to the female characteristics and functions in health and disease. 2nd ed. byCall Number: WP505.B445 1921Publication Date: 1921“Blair Bell was an outstanding figure in British gynaecology and one of the founders of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaeologists.”
Provided by the Internet Archive - Clinique médicale sur les maladies des femmes. 2 vols. byCall Number: WP.B475 1860Publication Date: 1860First edition. “One of the most important texts on the subject during the mid nineteenth century.”
Provided by the Internet Archive - The power of the mother's imagination over the foetus examin'd : in answer to Dr. Daniel Turner's book, intitled A defence of the XIIth chapter of the first part of a treatise, De morbis cutaneis. byCall Number: WZ260.B565 1727Publication Date: 1729Provided by Google Books
- The strength of imagination in pregnant women examin'd : and the opinion that marks and deformities in children arise from thence, demonstrated to be a vulgar error. byCall Number: WZ260.B565 1727Publication Date: 1727Blondel, a native of Paris who qualified in Leyden and practised in London, wrote these tracts to counter some of the quackery of the time; for example, the mother’s imagination could not affect the fetus.
Provided by Gale 18th Century Collections Online - Mémorial de l'art des accouchements : ouvrage pratique, dans lequel on a représenté avec soin, en 133 gravures, toutes les positions de l'enfant, le mécanisme de tous les accouchements, et rappelé, en peu de mots, les règles qu'il faut observer dans byCall Number: WQ.B638 1812Publication Date: 1812Provided by Google Books
- Traité pratique des maladies de l'utérus et de ses annexes : fondé sur un grand nombre d'observations cliniques : atlas de 41 planches in folio gravées et coloriées, représentant les principales altérations morbides des organes génitaux de la femm byCall Number: WP.B638 1833Publication Date: 1833Provided by Google Books
- Observations diverses sur la sterilité, perte de fruict, foecondite, accouchements et maladies des femmes et enfants nouveaux naiz : amplement traictées et heureusement practiquées byCall Number: WZ250.B68 1609Publication Date: 1609Provided by Google Books
- Popular directions for the treatment of the diseases of women and children byCall Number: WZ270.B875 1811Publication Date: 1811John Burns described the yellow colour of the corpus luteum and its whitish centre.
Provided by the US National Library of Medicine online collection. - An essay towards a complete new system of midwifry, theoretical and practical: together with the descriptions, causes, and methods byCall Number: WZ260.B878 1751Publication Date: 1751First edition. “Burton was the first to suggest that puerperal fever is contagious, and the first to give a detailed discussion of Caesarean section. Sterne satirized him as ‘Dr Slop’ in Tristam Shandy..” He attacks Smellie viciously, holding his scholarship up to ridicule, jibing at his thoroughness and concluding he is a pure theorist and a poor practitioner. (Curtis)
Provided by Gale Eighteenth Century Collections online, document ID no. CW108018459.
Available with UBC subscription login only - Theoretische en praktische verloskunde byCall Number: WQ.B8813 1841Publication Date: 1841Provided by Google Books
- Beschreibung zweier merkwürdigen menschlichen Misgeburten byCall Number: QSB.B883 1803Publication Date: 1803Provided by the Universal Multimedia Electronic Library (Germany)