Birmingham Medical Books on the Block

With so much focus on New York this week, I did not want to miss taking a look at Dominic Winter's (South Cerney, England) auction of medical books, coming up on April 18. The first of two sales occurs that day to disseminate the collection of the Birmingham Medical Institute, founded in 1875. For collectors of rare and antiquarian medical books (myself included), this is a major opportunity: 5,000 volumes in 1,000 lots, dating from 1502 to 1920.

G110-small.jpgPart I of the sale includes printed books up to 1800. Among the highlights are a second edition of Andreas Vesalius' Fabrica (1555), the first edition of Hippocrates' Works (1525), and John of Gaddesden's Rosa Anglica (1502), pictured above and below. It is the first printed medical book written by an Englishman and the oldest book in the collection.

G109-small.jpgPart II of the BMI sale will occur on July 26 and will contain the remaining printed books, bound pamphlets, and manuscripts dating from 1670-1920, as well as medical artifacts and surgical instruments.

You can view the catalogue for Part I here.

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