BU Historical Medicine Collection

The Manuscripts Heritage Collection

The manuscript collection is particularly rich and valuable, and remarkably diverse. It comprises 1,000 volumes, two-thirds of which predate the printing press, and approximately 160 date back to^{the 13th}century.
Among the various languages represented, Latin predominates, but there are also works in Greek, Arabic, Italian, and French (Occitan and Oïl)… Several fields are represented: first and foremost, the humanities (authors of Antiquity, philosophy, linguistics, literature…), followed by religious books (Bibles, Hours, and breviaries…), medicine—though only a small number of works in this category are ancient—and many other subjects.
The presentation of these volumes also varies; some are richly illustrated, while other collections may be austere, glossed, etc.
A few examples: an^8th-centuryPsalter known as the Psalter of Charlemagne, a^14th-centuryBible historiale, several versions of the Romance of the Rose, Perceval, Albucasis’s Surgery in the Occitan language…, the correspondence of Queen Christina of Sweden, or Guichenon’s archival collections on the Savoy region…

The Theses and Rare Books Collection

Antique prints

Here are some notable titles and subject areas from the history of publishing and literature that are included in the print collection:

• Medicine from the Middle Ages to the^19thcentury: Galen, Hippocrates, Vesalius’s richly illustrated anatomical works, Ambroise Paré
• all the major dictionaries and encyclopedias, including those by Diderot and d’Alembert
• grammars of a wide variety of languages
• major travel accounts from around the world, including a copy of *The Egyptian Expedition*
• French literature, as well as English and Italian works, and classical literature, including editions by Alde, Elsevier, etc.
• philosophy
• many works of art, such as Piranesi’s views of Rome

Most of the old printed materials are listed in the BIU catalog, with the exception of a few series that are still listed in registers or paper files.

Old theses

Through various exchanges, the library has built up a very extensive collection of medical dissertations. In addition to the Montpellier dissertations, which form a complete collection from the^18thcentury to the present day, the library also holds a comparable collection for the Faculty of Paris, as well as numerous dissertations from other universities.
The old medical theses from Montpellier have not yet been systematically digitized and are therefore missing from the BIU catalog. They can be searched for in registers or via SUDOC if they are listed by other French university libraries.
Similarly, the collections of old periodicals across all disciplines include more than 3,200 titles printed since the very beginnings of the press.

The Archives Heritage Collection

Historical Archives:
The history of the Faculty of Medicine can be traced back to its beginnings through the exceptionally rich archives held at the University Historical Library of Medicine. These documents were cataloged in the Cartulaire de l’Université de Montpellier (published in 1890–1912). They pertain to the administration of the university: from the statutes of 1220 (highly reliable^16th-centurycopies) to accounting records and lists and minutes of the professors.Volume 1 (with transcriptions of medieval documents)–Volume 2 (with the inventory of the historical archives of the Faculty of Medicine)

Enrollment and examination records offer a direct glimpse into daily life at the university: the most valuable ones contain the handwritten entries of such notable figures as François Rabelais and Nostradamus, as well as Théophraste Renaudot, the inventor of the concept of the periodical
, the great botanist Magnol, Chaptal, and all the leading figures in medicine.

The most important records have been digitized in Foli@, the BIU’s digital heritage library. Here are the links:
S 19, Matricules (1502–1561)–S 20, Matricules (1562–1669)  –S 5, Register of Deeds (1423–1559)
S 2, Liber procuratorum (1526–1535), the book of student representatives
S 18, Ceremonial of the University of Medicine of Montpellier (1701–1814)

Modern archives (^{19th–20th centuries}):
These archives are managed by the Faculty and made available to the library under the supervision of the archivist at the University of Montpellier.
Three inventories have been published (General Administration, Education, Posters) and are available onlineon the page dedicated to the written and graphic heritage of the University of Montpellier.