Great Book Collectors: Sir William Osler and Dr. John P. McGovern

John P. McGovern, MD	Sir William Osler

A great library is indispensable.

For the teacher and the worker a great library such as this is indispensable. They must know the world´s best work and know it at once. They mint and make current coin the ore so widely scattered in journals, transactions and monographs.
Sir William Osler Books and Men, in Aequanimitas, 220.

Not only was Sir William Osler a prolific and important writer, he was also an avid book collector. His personal collection contained over 8,000 volumes. He understood the significance of the library and bequeathed his collection to the McGill Medical Library in Montreal. Some of his writings about books, libraries, and reading are: On the library of a medical school, The medical library in post-graduate work, Men and books: collected and reprinted from the Canadian Medical Association Journal (Introduction) by Earl F. Nation, MD, and Aequanimitas: with other addresses to medical students, nurses and practitioners of medicine, which includes the essays, "Books and men" and "Bed-side library for medical students".

In The Papers of the Bibliographic Society of America, vol. XIV, part I, 1920, the Resolutions on the Death of Sir William Osler is printed. The resolution summarizes Sir Osler's love of books and his desire to instill a passion for books in others.

He was ever on the lookout for some interesting volume to give to that one of many friends (including libraries), who would best appreciate it. No one could be more generous, no one ever proved himself a more thoughtful friend of bibliophiles -- truly a philobibliophile par excellence.

Dr. McGovern was also a devoted book collector who recognized the value of the library to researchers and scholars. Since his childhood, Dr. McGovern had an interest in books and libraries. His interest peaked with the influence of Dean Wilburt Davison, Duke University School of Medicine's first dean. Dean Davision directed Dr. McGovern to Osler's books and from that time on, he was an avid collector of Osler and colleagues of his.

Dr. McGovern called his first library in his home in Houston the "Davison Library" and proudly showed his collection to many colleagues with the same interests - Davison, Wilder Penfield, Emile Holman and others who visited. Like Sir William, Dr. McGovern gave friends and acquaintances books, among them The Collected Essays of Sir William Osler and Humanism in Medicine both of which he helped edit.

His own writings form an extensive bibliography. For many years he was actively involved on the Editorial Advisory Board for The Classics of Medicine Library, facsimile reproductions of the often "exceedingly rare original works" which are essential to the history of medicine.

As to be expected from someone who admired and emulated Osler, Dr. McGovern collected all of Sir William Osler's works including his first published article, Christmas and the Microscope, (February 1, 1869), and all the editions of the Principles and Practices of Medicine. The First Edition, 1892 and the Fourth Edition, 1901 are available online. He also had an extensive collection of Osleriana.

In addition to the Osler books, the McGovern History of Medicine Collection contains over 5,500 titles. The majority of books focus on the development of the medical specialties in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with an emphasis on American Imprint and English language materials. However, the collection also contains many fine books from the beginning of the print era. These include anatomical books by Vesalius and Eustachi and Ophthalmodouleia: That Is, the Service of the Eyes, the first modern work on eye surgery and the book that established the term by which this specialty became known, by Georg Bartisch printed in 1583. Below are images from some of the books in the collection that deal with anatomical illustration and the ophthalmology specialty.

Books in the McGovern Collection can be located through the online catalog of the HAM-TMC Library. Please note that "McGovern", rather than a call number, is given as the location. Books are available for use only in the Rare Book Room.

Anatomical Illustrations

Anatomia in qua tota humani corporis fabrica... , Andreas Vesalius, 1617.	Major pathology of heart and aorta, Frank Netter, 1940.	Adversaria anatomica omnia. . ., Joannis Baptistae Morgagni, 1717-19.
Anatomy: descriptive and surgical, Henry Gray, drawings by H.V. Carter, 1859.	The anatomy of the humane bodies epitomized. . ., Gibson, Tho., 1684.	Atlas of topographical and applied human anatomy, by Eduard Pernkopf, translated by Harry Monsen, 1963-64.

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmodouleia: das ist, Augendienst. . . , Georg Bartisch, 1583.

Injuriesof the eye, orbit, and eyelids . . . , George Lawson, 1867.

Ophthslmologyand ophthalmoscopy . . . , Herman Schmidt-Rimpler, 1889.