VITAL Repository 5.4
Historical Images in Medicine
The Medical Center Library's Historical Images in Medicine (HIM) collections encompass over 3,000 photographs, illustrations, engravings, and bookplates from the history of the health and life sciences. Special collections in HIM include Bartisch's Ophthalmodouleia, the Bookplates, the Four Seasons and the Stewart Album.
In the past the HIM images were only retrievable by our History of Medicine Collections staff, but they are now available via the Internet. The Web versions of the images are not publication quality, nor are they intended for such use. If you see images you would like to incorporate into your publications, please contact the History of Medicine Collections Curator, for information at (919) 660-1144.
Grants from The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation and The Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation made possible the realization of the Historical Images in Medicine database.
Description of Selected Collections Available in the Repository
Bartisch's Ophthalmodouleia
The History of Medicine Collections has mounted 107 slides of 91 woodcuts from Georg Bartisch's Ophthalmodouleia; Das ist Augendienst [Dresden: Matthes Stoeckel] 1583. Two of the woodcuts (anatomy of the head and eye) have multiple movable superimposed flaps. The Trent copy is one of three or four known contemporary handcolored copies of the first edition. Dr. George O.D. Rosenwasser (Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State University) has photographed the woodcuts which are believed to have been executed by Hans Hewamaul after Bartisch's own drawings.
Bartisch is considered the founder of modern ophthalmology. He had no formal education as a physician, but served three apprenticeships in surgery, developed a substantial practice with an excellent reputation, and became the court oculist to Duke Augustus I of Saxony in 1588. The Ophthalmodouleia is the first ophthalmic textbook in the German language rather than Latin or Greek, the first Renaissance work on eye surgery, and the first to establish a surgical subspecialty. Bartisch printed the work at his own expense.
The Ophthalmodouleia was recently published as part of Julius Hirschberg's The History of Ophthalmology in an English translation by Donald L. Blanchard, M.D., complete with facsimile handcolored illustrations. A portion of this collection is available for viewing in our online exhibit.
Property of Duke University Medical Center Library
History of Medicine Collections, Durham, NC
Photographed by Dr. George O.D. Rosenwasser
Bookplate Collection
The History of Medicine Collections has over 450 medically related bookplates. Although ex libris collections have never attained the popularity and status of stamp collections and the focus on medicine further limits the number of enthusiasts, there exists a small body of literature and bibliography on the subject.
Bookplates can be approached as small works of art and are widely diverse in style and technique. They range from the simple to the sophisticated, from the serious to the humorous. Both individuals and libraries are represented. They are quite often engraved or woodcut, and are sometimes colored, occasionally by hand. A few are mass produced with a place to fill in a name. Size is limited only by the book into which the plate will be placed as a mark of range. The items chosen for inclusion in a plate even when focused by the common theme of medicine are various. Sometimes medical symbols such as the caduceus, stethoscope, or microscope are prominent or medical activities such as delivering a baby or performing surgery are obvious. An eye, a heart, or a bone can give an idea of the specialty. In others a medical connection is less evident and other interests of the physician are conspicuous. Sometimes there is no connection whatsoever, except for the designation of the owner as "Dr." or "M.D."
Our collection frequently has examples of more than one ex libris designed for a particular person. Many explanations are possible for this practice. There is a limit to the number of good copies that can be struck off from a single plate. New plates are needed for a growing collection and extras are often wanted to exchange with others. An owner might want plates designed by different artists. Quite often separate bookplates are desired for different subjects within a library, either personal or institutional.
Property of Duke University Medical Center Library
History of Medicine Collections, Durham, NC
The Four Seasons
The Four Seasons images are four seventeenth century copperplate engravings of probably German or Flemish origin, each depicting a season of the year with each season used as a metaphor for one of the "ages of man." They are by no means limited to their most obvious subject, anatomy, but contain allusions to alchemy, astronomy, astrology, zoology, botany, geography, physiology, urology, and palmistry as well. Each engraving contains many complex parts involving multiple layers of superimposed paper flaps and volvelles.
The 504 slides, photographed by Bill Gage, have been digitally scanned to provide a master record for research purposes since this set appears to be the only extant copy of the engravings. The overall dimensions vary slightly, but are approximately 43 x 36 cm. The engravings are mounted on paste paper boards so it has not been possible to examine the verso of the sheets.
The engravings travelled as part of an exhibit mounted by the National Gallery of Canada in 1996-1997 and were reproduced in their exhibition catalog, The Ingenious Machine of Nature; Four Centuries of Art and Anatomy, along with an extensive text by Bruce Russell.
Previously in the possession of Sir D'Arcy Power, the engravings upon his death were sold at auction on June 9, 1941 by Sotheby's and eventually made their way into the collection of Dr. Josiah Charles Trent, a Duke physician. In March 1992, Dr. James H. Semans and Mrs. Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans (Dr. Trent's widow) formally gave them to the History of Medicine Collections of the Duke University Medical Center Library. On the occasion of the gift, Trent curator emeritus G.S.T. Cavanagh gave a lecture summarizing his research on The Four Seasons. Just prior to that, Mr. Cavanagh had convened an inter-disciplinary symposium in Leiden to study the engravings.
A book and CD ROM of this scholarly study by H.F.J. Horstmanshoff are available for purchase.
Property of Duke University Medical Center Library
History of Medicine Collections, Durham, NC
Photographed by Bill Gage
Stewart Album
Compiled by Dr. Howard T. Stewart of New York (presumably after 1865), The Stewart Album is a collection of 206 photographs of German, French, Spanish, Italian, and English physicians and scientists prominent in the mid-nineteenth century. All but six of the photographs are in the cartes de visite format. The album is part of the Trent Collection.
Property of Duke University Medical Center Library
History of Medicine Collections, Durham, NC
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