BU Pharmacy fund

The University Library of Pharmacy holds specialized and older collections in its Reserve: these can be consulted by anyone.

The 4,900 books, offprints, images and theses come mainly from bequests or donations relating to the history of pharmacy teaching in Montpellier:

- Fonds de l'École supérieure de pharmacie de Montpellier. In 1886, the Montpellier School of Pharmacy bequeathed to the University Library a collection of the School's own works, together with bequests made to the School by two professors, one François-Joseph Rey (1758-1826), the other in 1859 François Hugues Roméo Pouzin (1795-1860). This fine collection of works from the ^16th to the ^19th century, described as the "honest man's library", is truly encyclopedic, covering medicine and chemistry, botany and zoology, pharmacy and toxicology, as well as literature and geography...
The Reserve holds over 80 pharmacopoeias, the oldest dating from 1625, a fine collection of botanical works, including Michel Boym's prestigious Flora Sinensis (1656), and many chemistry and toxicology works, illustrating their growing importance in the School's research. Alongside a fine collection of literary works, there are also prints-à-part by Auguste Comte and his dedication to his "comrade and friend, Docteur Pouzin".

- Fonds de l'École d'Agriculture de Montpellier. The work of Jules-Emile Planchon (1823-1888), who was Director of the École supérieure de Pharmacie in 1859 and worked with the Montpellier School of Agriculture, notably on the phylloxera crisis, would explain the presence here of this essentially ^19th-century collection. These 639 documents, mainly botanical, are of great interest for the history of viticulture in the Hérault and Aude departments.

- Jules Pavillard collection. Complementing the holdings of the Archives départementales de l'Hérault, this collection of around 150 documents was donated to the Bibliothèque de Pharmacie by his granddaughter, Anne-Marie Pavillard.
JulesPavillard spent his entire career in Montpellier, becoming Director of the Institut de Botanique in 1927. He was one of the promoters of phytosociology, and in 1930 founded the Station internationale de géobotanique méditerranéenne. The fonds comprises a coherent collection of articles and documents from his research, as well as handwritten notebooks.

- Theses. The library holds a collection of academic writings dating back to 1803, when Napoleon created the École supérieure de Pharmacie: in particular, theses for 1st class pharmacists and higher pharmacist diplomas. For the period 1803-1806, we only have copies, as the originals are held by the BIUS (Paris). The period from 1806 to 1949 constitutes the old collection of Montpellier pharmacy theses.