The New York Times Profiles the Academy Rare Book Room

"It's one of those extraordinary but little noticed corners of New York, and once you've stumbled upon it, it becomes a discovery that you just have to tell others about," wrote William McDonald in The New York Times City Section (Sunday, Jan. 2) in an article profiling the Academy Rare Book Room, home to one of the nation's premier collections on the history of medicine. McDonald gives a superb depiction of the Rare Book Room, boasting of its treasures and the staff that protects them. The collection includes more than 32,000 volumes dating from the 15th through the 18th centuries, and includes 85 to 90 percent of the medical books printed in what is now the United States between late 17th and early 19th centuries.

Entitled "Annals of Medicine, Yellow With Age," the Times article chronicles many of the Rare Book Room's exceptional holdings, such as the original volume of Hans von Gersdorff's Feldtbuch der Wundartzney from 1542 and Vesalius??? De Humani Corporis Fabrica, written in 1543. Various collections in plagues, epidemics, balneology, and public health can also be accessed in the Rare Book Room, along with early manuscripts such as the Edwin Smith papyrus, dating back to 1700 BC, and a 14th century illuminated copy of Guy de Chauliac???s surgery textbooks.

To view the article online, please click here. Note: When you click on the link, you may first be directed to a New York Times registration page. Registration is quick and free and will allow you to view this and other Times articles.

The Rare Boom Room is open by appointment by calling 212.822.7310. To become a Friend of the Rare Book Room, download a membership form.

Posted on January 4, 2005

 Print   Subscribe

Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org

Press Release Archive