Books
Rare Books

Collectable medical books

The appeal of collecting beautiful, old medical books is strong for many book collectors. Medicine has been practised - in one form or another - since the beginning of mankind and many of these practises have been documented in book form.

Some of the medical authors who are avidly collected include William Harvey (1578-1657) who discovered the circulation of blood, Thomas Willis (1621-1675) who coined the term neurology, Sir Charles Bell (1774-1842), a famous surgeon known for his books with gorgeous illustrations, Edward Jenner (1749-1823) who discovered the vaccination for smallpox and many other medical practitioners from years gone by.

According to Jeremy Norman's History of Science, an AbeBooks bookseller and one of the leading experts in the field of collecting rare medical books, "specialties in which collecting is currently popular include neurology and neurosurgery, ophthalmology, cardiology, dermatology, orthopedics, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pathology, plastic surgery, general surgery, otolaryngology, urology, and psychiatry." Jeremy Norman also notes that the history of anatomy and anatomical illustration is very appealling to collectors as many of the major anatomy books were illustrated by famous artists.

From anatomy to early methods of obstetrics to the study of phrenology, the Victorian pseudoscience of skull measurement, and the art of plastic surgery - these beautiful, collectable medical masterpieces would be a wonderful addition to any book collector's collection.

Share

Discover more beautiful books

14 September, 2022
Find beautiful decorative books to decorate your home from vintage paperbacks to complete sets, leather-bound volumes and coffee-table books.
6 Min Read
By Sandra Hindman
24 January, 2022
Books of Hours were medieval bestsellers. Sandra Hindman, an expert on medieval manuscripts, explains why these books were, and still are, so important.
8 Min Read
By Julie Oreskovich
27 August, 2021
The New Naturalist Series is an on-going series of books published by Collins that focuses on natural history. The series, famous for its dust jacket designs, began in 1945 with Butterflies by E.B. Ford and more than 100 titles have been published.
2 Min Read