Archives & Special Collections, Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, is pleased to announce Written on the Skin: Classics of Dermatology from the Gift of David R. Bickers, M.D., an exhibit highlighting a recent important donation to the Library by Dr. Bickers, Chairman of the Department of Dermatology.

The gift of more than 50 volumes of classic dermatology texts considerably augments the Library’s rare book holdings in this field.  The books date from 1682 to 1928 and include a range of works from scientific landmarks to popular works on shampooing and skin care.

Viewers will be able to see pioneering works such as Daniel Turner’s De Morbis Cutaneis (1736), A.C. de Lorry’s Tractatus de Morbis Cutaneis (1777), and the first book by an American devoted solely to skin diseases, Noah Worcester’s 1845 Synopsis of the Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment of the More Common and Important Diseases of the Skin.

There are also several important color plate atlases, including Delineations of Cutaneous Diseases (1817) by Thomas Bateman; the English translation of Pierre F.O. Rayer’s A Theoretical and Practical Treatise on the Diseases of the Skin (1835); and Photographic Illustrations of Skin Diseases (1881) by George Henry Fox, one of Dr. Bickers’ predecessors as chairman of the department.

In addition, on display are the first English translations of Phototherapy (1901) by the Dane, Niels Finsen – a work that won him the Nobel Prize – and Paul G. Unna’s path-breaking work, The Histopathology of the Diseases of the Skin (1896).

Rounding out the exhibit is a case devoted to dermatology at Columbia including photographs and publications.

The exhibit can be viewed on Lower Level 2 of the Hammer Building until December 18, 2019.  The space is open 24/7 but you must have a valid Columbia University ID to access the building.

The exhibit was curated by Stephen E. Novak, Head, Archives & Special Collections, Health Sciences Library. For further information contact hslarchives@columbia.edu

Images:

Top: Lupus vulgaris, from G. H. Fox, Photographic Illustrations of Skin Diseases (1881)

Above: Pompholyx diutinus, plate 23 from Thomas Bateman, Delineations of cutaneous diseases: exhibiting the characteristic appearances of the principal genera and species comprised in the classification of the late Dr Willan (1817)