BU Pharmacy Collection

The University Pharmacy Library houses specialized and rare collections in its stacks; these collections are available to the public.

The 4,900 items—including offprints, images, and theses—come primarily from bequests or donations related to the history of pharmacy education in Montpellier:

– Collection of the Montpellier School of Pharmacy. In 1886, the Montpellier School of Pharmacy bequeathed to the University Library a collection consisting of the School’s works, as well as bequests made to the School by two professors: one by François-Joseph Rey (1758–1826), and the other in 1859 by François Hugues Roméo Pouzin (1795–1860). This fine collection of works from^{the 16th}to^{the 19th}century, described as the library of the “honest man,” is truly encyclopedic, covering medicine and chemistry, botany and zoology, pharmacy and toxicology, as well as literature, geography…
The Reserve thus holds more than 80 pharmacopoeias, the oldest of which dates from 1625, a fine collection of botanical works including Michel Boym’s prestigious Flora Sinensis (1656), and numerous works on chemistry and toxicology, illustrating their growing importance in the School’s research. Alongside a fine collection of literary works, there are also offprints by Auguste Comte and his dedication to his “comrade and friend, Dr. Pouzin.”

– Collection of the Montpellier School of Agriculture. The work ofJules-Emile Planchon(1823–1888), who served as Director of the Higher School of Pharmacy in 1859 and collaborated with the Montpellier School of Agriculture—particularly on the phylloxera crisis—may explain the presence here of this collection, which consists primarily of^19th-centurymaterials. It consists of 639 documents, primarily on botany, which are of great interest for the history of viticulture in the Hérault and Aude departments.

– Jules Pavillard Collection. Complementing the collection held at the Hérault Departmental Archives, this collection of approximately 150 documents was donated to the Pharmacy Library by his granddaughter, Anne-Marie Pavillard.
Jules Pavillardspent his entire career in Montpellier and served as director of the Institute of Botany in 1927. He was a pioneer in phytosociology and founded the International Station for Mediterranean Geobotany in 1930. The collection consists of a coherent set 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, the year Napoleon founded the École supérieure de Pharmacie: in particular, theses by first-class pharmacists and advanced pharmacy degrees. For the period 1803–1806, we have only copies, as the originals are held at the BIUS (Paris). The period from 1806 to 1949 constitutes the historical collection of pharmacy theses from Montpellier.

Photo credits: University of Montpellier / SCDI Montpellier – Photography Department