BU Historical Medicine Collection

The Manuscripts Heritage Collection

The manuscript collection is particularly rich and valuable, with remarkable diversity. It comprises 1,000 volumes, two-thirds of which predate the printing press, and around 160 of which date from^{the 13th}century.
Among the different languages, Latin is the most common, but there are also Greek, Arabic, Italian, French (Oc and Oïl), and others. Several fields are represented: first and foremost, belles-lettres (ancient authors, philosophy, linguistics, literature, etc.), then religious books (Bibles, Books of Hours, breviaries, etc.), medicine (although only a small number of works are ancient), and many other subjects.
The presentation of these volumes also varies; some are richly illustrated, while others may be austere, glossed, etc.
Some examples include an^8th-centuryPsalter attributed to Charlemagne, a^14th-centuryBible historiale, several versions of the Roman de la Rose, Perceval, Albucasis's Chirurgie in the Occitan language, Queen Christina of Sweden's correspondence, and Guichenon's archives on the Savoy region.

The heritage collection of theses and antique printed materials

Antique prints

Here are some notable titles or areas in the history of publishing or literature that appear in the print collection:

• Medicine from the Middle Ages to the^19thcentury: Galen, Hippocrates, Vesalius' richly illustrated anatomies, Ambroise Paré
• all major dictionaries and encyclopedias, including those of Diderot and d'Alembert
• grammars of many languages
• major accounts of voyages around the world, including a copy of the Expedition to Egypt
• French literature, but also English and Italian works, classical literature with editions by Alde, Elsevier, etc.
• philosophy
• many works of art, such as Piranesi's views of Rome

The majority of 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.

The old theses

Through exchanges, the library has been able to build up a very large collection of medical theses. In addition to the theses from Montpellier, which form a complete collection from the origins (^18thcentury) to the present day, there is an equivalent collection for the Faculty of Paris, as well as numerous theses from other universities.
The old medical theses from Montpellier have not yet been systematically computerized and are therefore not included in 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 from all disciplines include more than 3,200 titles printed since the very beginnings of the press.

The Heritage Fund Archives

The old archives:
The history of the Faculty of Medicine can be traced back to its beginnings through the particularly rich archives held at the University Library of Medical History. These documents have been catalogued in the Cartulaire de l’Université de Montpellier (published in 1890-1912). They concern the administration of the university: from the statutes of 1220 (reliable^16th-centurycopies) to accounting documents and lists and minutes of professors.Volume 1 (with transcriptions of medieval documents)–Volume 2 (with an inventory of the old archives of the Faculty of Medicine)

The enrollment and examination registers give us a direct insight into everyday life at the university: the most valuable ones bear the autograph inscriptions of famous figures such as François Rabelais, Nostradamus, Théophraste Renaudot, inventor of the concept of periodicals (
), the great botanist Magnol, Chaptal, and all the great names in medicine.

The most important registers are 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 attorneys
S 18, Ceremonial of the University of Medicine of Montpellier (1701-1814)

Modern archives (^{19th-20th centuries}):
These are managed by the Faculty and communicated to the library under the responsibility of the archivist of the University of Montpellier.
Three inventories have been published (General Administration, Teaching, Posters), and can be found onlineon the page dedicated to the written and graphic heritage of the University of Montpellier.