Books, Manuscripts, and Photographs from Royal Society of Medicine Library to Auction

Christie's' Valuable Books, Manuscripts and Photographs auction on December 10 will feature 205 lots including a selection of 100 works from the library of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM). Proceeds will be directly invested into the RSM to modernise spaces, enhance digital platforms, and expand learning opportunities. 

Leading the sale is William Harvey's Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus (1628, estimate: £800,000-£1.2m), the first description of blood circulation, a publication that transformed medical knowledge and practice.

Other highlights include James Parkinson's An Essay on the Shaking Palsy (1817, estimate: £50,000-£70,000), and a group of 18 autograph letters (estimate: £50,000-£70,000) by the 'father of immunology' Edward Jenner, who coined the term 'vaccine'.
 
Alongside the RSM selection the auction will feature:

• John Gould's The Birds of New Guinea (£70,000-£100,000)
• Daniel Elliot's A Monograph of the Phasianidae (£50,000-£70,000)
• Walter Cromer's Book of Hours (£100,000-£150,000) written and owned by Henry VIII's personal physician, once bound with the Aspremont Hours now in Melbourne
• A Book of Hours (£100,000-£150,000) painted c.1510 by Guillaume II Leroy, one of the most prolific Lyonnais artists of his day who worked for the courts of Louis XII and François I

In addition there will also be a group of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts from the Collection of Phyllis Goodhart Gordan (1913-1994). A scholar of Latin and Greek, Gordan dedicated herself to the rediscovery and preservation of Classical texts that defined the Renaissance. Represented in the sale will be texts of Ovid, Cicero, Statius, Plato and Lucan. The highlight is an illustrated manuscript of English chronicler Ralph Higden's medieval magnum opus the Polychronicon (£50,000–£70,000), previously in the Duke of Newcastle's collections at Clumber Park.