BU Historical Medicine collection
The BU Historique de Médecine is closed while work is carried out to bring its storerooms up to standard.
Collections can be consulted byappointment.
Access collections viaSUDOC.
The fund
The Bibliothèque universitaire Historique de Médecine is characterized by the richness of its heritage collections.
- 1000 volumes of manuscripts from the 8th to the 19th century
- 100,000 volumes printed before the beginning of the 19th century
- all theses from the medical faculties of Montpellier and Paris since the 18th century
- Faculty archives from the origins to 1810
History of the fund
Although a library at the Faculty of Medicine is known to have existed since the Middle Ages, no books have survived. The initial nucleus of the collection came from the Haguenot bequest in 1767.
The existing collection was in fact built up in the early 19th century by Gabriel Prunelle, the Faculty's medical librarian, drawing on revolutionary confiscations from all over France, following an encyclopedic program.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the library grew through donations and bequests, as well as purchases.
Fund composition
Made up of manuscripts and printed works, the collection is encyclopedic, with medicine accounting for just under half.
- 1000 manuscripts, 2/3 of them from the Middle Ages, in all fields of knowledge
- 100,000 antique prints, including 300 incunabula and antique theses
- Archives: the BU Medicine preserves and manages the Faculty's ancient archives, dating back to the French Revolution, and also handles the communication of modern archives, under the responsibility of the University of Montpellier archivist.
These exceptional collections, to which access is not restricted to the university community, offer a wide range of research topics, including medical literature from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, the history of Montpellier's Faculty of Medicine, manuscripts from the Clairvaux library, manuscripts from the Albani collection, the library of the Bouhier family of parliamentarians, travel accounts, etc.
The Manuscript Heritage Collection
The manuscript collection is particularly rich and precious, and remarkably diverse. It comprises 1,000 volumes, 2/3 of which predate printing, and around 160 of which date from the 13th century.
Among the different languages, we find mainly Latin, but also Greek, Arabic, Italian, French (oc and oïl)... Several fields are represented: first, belles-lettres (authors of Antiquity, philosophy, linguistics, literature...), then religious books (Bibles, Hours and breviaries...), medicine, of which 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: a so-called Charlemagne Psalter from the 8th century, a 14th-century Bible historiale, several versions of the Roman de la Rose, Perceval, the Chirurgie d'Albucasis in langue d'oc..., the correspondence of Queen Christine of Sweden or Guichenon's archive collections on the Savoy region...
The heritage collection of theses and old prints
Old prints
Here are just a few of the titles or areas of publishing or literary history that feature in our print collection:
- medicine from the Middle Ages to the 19th century: Galen, Hippocrates, the richly illustrated anatomies of Vesalius, Ambroise Paré
- all the major dictionaries and encyclopedias, including that of Diderot and d'Alembert
- grammars for a wide range of 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
- numerous works of art, such as Piranesi's views of Rome
The majority of early printed works are listed in the BIU catalog, with the exception of a few series still listed on registers or paper files.
The old theses
Through exchanges, the library has been able to build up an extensive collection of medical theses. In addition to the Montpellier theses, which form a complete collection from the origins (18th century) to the present day, the equivalent collection for the Faculty of Paris is also preserved, as are numerous theses from other universities.
Montpellier's early medical theses have not yet been systematically computerized, and are therefore missing from the BIU catalog. They can be searched in registers, or via the SUDOC if they are reported by other French BUs.
Similarly, the collections of old periodicals in all disciplines include more than 3,200 titles printed since the very beginnings of the press.
Heritage Archives
Ancient archives:
The history of the Faculty of Medicine from its earliest days can be traced through the particularly rich archives held by the Bibliothèque Universitaire Historique de Médecine. These documents are listed in the Cartulaire de l'Université de Montpellier (published 1890-1912). They concern the administration of the university: from the statutes of 1220 (reliable copies from the 16thcentury) to accounting documents and lists and minutes of professors.Tome 1 (with transcriptions of acts from the Middle Ages)-Tome2 (with an inventory of the ancient archives of the Faculty of Medicine)
Enrolment and examination registers take us directly into the daily life of the university: the most precious bear the
autograph inscriptions of celebrities such as François Rabelais and Nostradamus, as well as Théophraste Renaudot, inventor of the
notion of the periodical, 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:
S19, Matricules (1502-1561) - S 20, Matricules (1562-1669) - S 5, Registre des actes (1423-1559)
S 2, Liber procuratorum (1526-1535), the student procurator's book
S18, Cérémonial de l'Université de médecine de Montpellier (1701-1814)
Modern archives (19th-20thcenturies):
These are managed by the Faculty and communicated to the library under the responsibility of the University of Montpellier archivist.
Three inventories have been published (General Administration, Teaching, Posters), and can be found online on thepage dedicated to the written and graphic heritage of the University of Montpellier.