York Medical Society Collection

The York Medical Society Collection is made up of nearly 2000 titles including books from the York dispensatory (303 items) and York county hospital medical library. There are also just over 30 journal titles in the collection.

How to access the collection

Most of the material in the collection is catalogued and can be accessed via the University of York’s online catalogue. Items can be consulted in the Borthwick Search Room and copies can be made subject to copyright. Material cannot be loaned outside the University of York without the permission of the owners.

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About the collection

Highlights

  • William Hunter's Anatomia uteri humani gravida tabulis illustrate (1774)
  • An almost complete run of the British Medical Journal from 1855 to 1950
  • First edition of the collected works of Gabriello Fallopio after whom the Fallopian Tube is named published in Frankfurt in 1584
  • 2 v. ed. Works of Hippocrates in Latin published in Basle in 1564 with clasped binding and annotations in Greek filling the margins
  • Thomas Addison's On the constitutional and local effects of disease of the supra-renal capsules London 1855

As well as medical historians, this collection would be of interest to anyone studying provincial book societies and the provincial book trade.

The collectors

The York Medical Society was formed in 1832, with the object of promoting and diffusing medical knowledge. Their large library helped to achieve that objective. The books had originally been housed in the County Hospital and were given to the York Medical Society in 1890. Members continued to make gifts of books to the library which moved to 23 Stonegate where the Society was based.

Acquisition

The books were deposited at the University in 2004. They are held on deposit from the York Medical Society.

Related collections

Further information

Publications