The John Martin Rare Book Room will hold its annual open house on Thursday, May 14 from 4:30 to 7:30. The exhibit, “De Partu Hominis; Six Centuries of Obstetrics,” will feature rare books on childbirth from the 15th through the 20th centuries. The event is open to the public. The open house will allow visitorsContinue reading “Rare Book Room Open House to Feature Early Works on Childbirth”
Category Archives: Rare Book Room
Two New Exhibits at Hardin: Care of Lincoln and Care of Books
Two new exhibits on two very different subjects have been installed near the Hardin Library main entrance. “His Wound is Mortal – Trauma Care, April 14, 1865” offers a look at the medical measure taken after the shooting of Abraham Lincoln, including excerpts from first-hand reports of the assassination and its aftermath. The exhibit alsoContinue reading “Two New Exhibits at Hardin: Care of Lincoln and Care of Books”
Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room — Long Before Google
GREGOR REISCH (ca. 1467-1525). Margarita philosophica. 2nd ed., 1504]. Long before there was Google and Britannica, there was Margarita philosophica, which might be called the first modern encyclopedia. Its twelve divisions cover the trivium (grammar, logic and rhetoric), the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy), and the natural and moral sciences. Of particular fascination are theContinue reading “Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room — Long Before Google”
Tour John Martin Rare Book Room, Wednesday, April 8 at noon
A Tour of and introduction to the John Martin Rare Book Room is once again part of the “Gem Series” offered by UI Human Resources Learning & Development unit. The tour is free and open to any UI faculty or staff member and will feature a “hands-on” introduction to some of the more fascinating booksContinue reading “Tour John Martin Rare Book Room, Wednesday, April 8 at noon”
News from the John Martin Rare Book Room – Activities of Daily Living
Activities of Daily Living– While fads and fancies in health and medicine come and go, the underlying essentials of wellbeing, including, rest, nutrition, exercise, and moderation have gone unchallenged for millennia. One of the more popular works outlining keys to basic fitness is the Tacuini sanitatis by the eleventh century Iraq physician, Ibn Butlān (d.Continue reading “News from the John Martin Rare Book Room – Activities of Daily Living”
Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room – Birthing in the 16th Century
Birthing in the 16th Century Jakob Rüff (1500-1558) was not the first physician to write a birthing manual for midwives but his book, De conceptu et generatione hominis, first published in 1554 in both Latin and German was certainly one of the most famous and widely used. Lithotomist, surgeon, obstetrician and playwright, was the townContinue reading “Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room – Birthing in the 16th Century”
Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room
L’orthopédie The simple image of a crooked tree splinted to a wooden pole is one of the most recognizable symbols in medicine. Its first appearance was as an engraving in Andry de Bois-Regard’s 1741publication, L’orthopédie; ou, “L’art de prévenir et de corriger dan les enfans, les difformités du corps* *Orthopaedia: or the Art of CorrectingContinue reading “Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room”
Notes from the Rare Book Room – Bleeding by the Numbers
Pierre Louis’ 1835, Recherches sur les effets de la saignée dans quelques maladies inflammatoires, et sur l’action de l’émétique et des vésicatoires dans la pneumonie is one of the less impressive looking books in the John Martin Rare Book Room, but it was instrumental in laying the foundation for what we now term, “evidence basedContinue reading “Notes from the Rare Book Room – Bleeding by the Numbers”
Notes from the Rare Book Room — The Nuremberg Chronicle
While the production of the Guttenberg Bible in the mid 15th century constitutes the most important milestonetemp in the history of printing, the happy marriage of moveable type and mechanized illustration is best represented by the 1493 book, Liber Chronicarum, more popularly known as the Nuremberg Chronicle. The University Libraries is fortunate to have notContinue reading “Notes from the Rare Book Room — The Nuremberg Chronicle”
Don’t forget to check out the new Smallpox Exhibit!
Don’t forget to check out the latest exhibit posted near the 3rd floor entrance! It’s the history of Smallpox, and is quite informative! Smallpox has claimed more lives than any other disease in history, ravaging humankind for thousands of years. During the 18th century, smallpox killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans every year. Even those whoContinue reading “Don’t forget to check out the new Smallpox Exhibit!”