Incunabula, Rare Books & Journals, and Classical Works

This historical collection of medical texts came to Lane Medical Library as a result of the efforts and generous financial support of Dr. Adolph Barkan. Dr. Barkan's contact in the early 1920s with Dr. Karl Sudhoff, Director of the Institute for the History of Medicine in the University of Leipzig, ultimately put him in a position to purchase the entire private library of Dr. Ernst Seidel for Stanford.

The collection represents Dr. Seidel's strong interest in the history of eastern medicine, primarily Arabic, as well as the ancient medical authors of the west. The collection includes medical dictionaries and works on materia medica, veterinary medicine, surgery, and anatomy. The works of Greek and Latin authors such as Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen are present in many different early editions. The principle works of noted physicians of early modern Europe are in the collection as well as related biographies and early bibliographies. A copy of the first edition of Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica and a chained book, Silvatico Liber pandictarum medicinae are two examples of individual works in this fine collection.

See History of Medicine for more from the Special Collections.

The collection is complemented by complete runs of early medical journals, journals in the history of medicine and the sciences, an open collection of monographs on the history of medicine, extensive holdings of theses from the major universities of Europe, and collections of books in all areas of medicine.

In the summer of 2006, Jeremy Norman, a specialist in rare books and manuscripts on the history of science, medicine and technology, evaluated the collection's role in establishing the European medical tradition in California.

Click the images to see the full-size versions.

Matteo Silvatico Liber pandectarum medicinae 1480

Andreas Vesalius De humani corporis fabrica libri septem [1543]