The Bavarian State Library is receiving what it says is a “top-class collection” of medical-historical works. The house announced on Thursday in Munich. The more than 3000 volumes were a gift from the long-standing director of the clinic and polyclinic for dermatology and allergology in Munich, Gerd Plewig, and his wife, the doctor Helga Lincke-Plewig. The “Bibliotheca Historica Dermatologiae” includes important and rare medical prints from five centuries. These include valuable editions of the work of Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), anatomist and personal physician to Emperor Charles V and King Philip II of Spain.
The Plewigs have been building up the collection continuously since the mid-1970s. The volumes from the 16th to the 20th century are often first editions, which are also provided with dedications. These included editions of the groundbreaking work “De humani corporis fabrica libri septem” by Vesalius, who is regarded as the founder of modern anatomy, many medical atlases and colored chromo-lithographic tables in the field of dermatology. According to the announcement, the collection also includes more than 60 volumes from the private library of Duke Carl Theodor in Bavaria (1839-1909), who practiced as an ophthalmologist. In addition, there are parts of the libraries of well-known representatives of medicine, rare standard works in dermatology published in the USA and specialist journals.
According to the press release, the Plewig collection is an excellent addition to the holdings of the State Library in the field of medical history. This includes the library of the doctor and medical historian Karl Sudhoff (1853-1938), which comprises a good 3,000 volumes. Many titles have not been available for a long time and are only available in European special libraries. In particular, the Vesalius edition of 1543 and the facsimile of the Bremen press of 1934 could now also be used to close gaps.
The Bavarian State Library was founded in 1558 by Duke Albrecht V. With almost 37 million media units, it claims to be the largest scientific universal library in Germany and one of the most important international research libraries.