Author: Elisabeth Brander

Contact me about:
  1. Donations to the rare book collections
  2. Scheduling a class visit to Archives and Rare Books
  3. Presentations on the history of medicine and rare medical books
  4. Rare book curation and exhibition
  5. Using Becker Library’s rare book collections
  6. Learning more about or collaborating with the Center for the History of Medicine
Archives and Rare Books

New Exhibit: “Introducing the Book – The Title Page from 1500-1900”

By — October 19, 2017

How many of you take the time to look at a title page when you buy a new book? Most of the time there’s no real need to do so – we can read the book’s title and author right on the front cover. Hundreds of years ago, however, the title page played a much more important role. During the early modern period, when printed books were first becoming popular, books were usually either sold unbound or with simple paper wrappers. Therefore, the title page was responsible for both providing information about a work and luring prospective buyers.

Archives and Rare Books

Before There Was Copyright

By — September 11, 2017

Some of the most famous images in the history of medicine can be found in Andreas Vesalius’s “De humani corporis fabrica,” published in 1543 by Johannes Oporinus. Medical illustration prior to Vesalius tended to be rather crude and schematic, but the woodcuts that appeared in the Fabrica managed to capture an extraordinary amount of detail  [Read more]

Archives and Rare Books

The Salernitan Regimen of Health

By — June 29, 2017

Medical knowledge has undergone, shall we say, significant changes since the medieval and early modern periods. Humorism – the idea that the bodily health depended on the proper balance of the four humors of blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile – has been thoroughly debunked. We understand germ theory. A broken bone is a  [Read more]

Archives and Rare Books

Keeping the Spleen at Bay

By — April 13, 2017

April is National Poetry Month and, as in past years, we’re celebrating by showing off an example of poetry that has a medical flavor. Matthew Green’s long poem “The Spleen” is perfect for the occasion. Although Green (1696-1737) was not a literary scholar, he had a keen wit and a certain natural flair for poetry.  [Read more]

Archives and Rare Books

Hair of the Dog

By — February 8, 2017

There are a number of home remedies that claim to cure hangovers. Greasy breakfasts, black coffee, and attempting to sleep it off all come to mind.

Archives and Rare Books

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them at Becker Library

By — November 17, 2016

If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you’re probably aware that the Potterverse is about to expand with the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. This new film follows the adventures of Newt Scamander, the wizard who authored the textbook Harry and his fellow Hogwarts students used in their Care of Magical Creatures class. While we Muggles (or No-Majs, as we’re called in North America) are unlikely to encounter any hippogriffs, acromantulas, and grindylows in person, if you venture up to Becker’s Archives and Rare Books you can see them in some of our historical texts!

Archives and Rare Books

Contacting Ghosts

By — October 13, 2016

The end of fall is the season when the veil between our world and the spirit world is thinnest. That means Halloween is the best possible time to try to communicate with ghosts and spirits!

Archives and Rare Books

Banned Books Week: Thomas Browne

By — September 29, 2016

September 25 – October 1 is Banned Books week. Hopefully you saw Susan Fowler’s earlier Becker Brief about Banned Medical Books (if not, check it out here!), but we also wanted to take the time to post about historical banned books. One of the works in our special collections that was once censored by the  [Read more]

Announcements

Introducing Aeon

By — September 19, 2016

We are very excited to announce that Archives and Rare Books has decided to implement Aeon, a library requesting software created for special collections.

Archives and Rare Books

A Touch of Medical Humor

By — August 12, 2016

This work is disrespectfully dedicated to those who feel that a knowledge of the Human Body, sufficient for the needs of the future Medical Practitioner, can be adequately obtained without post-mortem investigation. It will be seen that with the aid of a few objects borrowed from the gardener, or cook (if she be out), the  [Read more]

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