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The oriental collections in the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Nigel Allan
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Extract

One of the larger, and probably the least well-known collections of oriental manuscripts, printed books and other two-dimensional material in the United Kingdom (and possibly in Europe) is to be found in the library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine. The collection includes over 10,000 manuscripts, some 900 written on palm leaves, and others on paper, metal, leather and ivory. There are about 3,000 books printed in oriental scripts, prints, drawings, paintings, and items of photographic material. Over 30 languages are represented in the collection.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 113 , Issue 1 , January 1981 , pp. 10 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1981

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References

Notes

1 Poynter, F. N. L., “The Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and library and its services to research in the History of Medicine”, Verhandlungen des XX Internationalen Kongresses für der Medizin, Berlin, 22–27 August 1966, Hildesheim, 1968, 411–18.Google Scholar

2 Steele, C., Major libraries of the world: a selective guide, London, 1976, 179 ff.Google Scholar

3 Browne, E. G., Arabian Medicine, Cambridge, 1921;Google ScholarSarton, G. A. L., Introduction to the History of Science, Baltimore, 1927–1948;Google ScholarBrockelmann, C., Geschichte der arabischen Literatur, second edition, Leyden, 1937–1940.Google Scholar

4 Iskandar, A. Z., A Catalogue of Arabic manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library, London, 1967.Google Scholar

5 op. cit, WMS Or. 123, pp. 104 f., and Pl. 8.Google Scholar

6 op. cit., WMS Or. 155, pp. 156 ff., and Pl. 1a and 1b.Google Scholar

7 Strelcyn, S., “Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts of the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine in London”, BSOAS, XXXV, 1972, 27–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For Magdala, see Pankhurst, R. J., “The library of Emperor Tewodros II at Mäqdäla (Magdala)”, BSOAS, XXXVI, 1973, 15–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

8 Tashrīḥ-i Manṣūrī, see Fonahn, A., Zur Quellenkunde der Persischen Medizin, Leipzig, 1910, 3 f.Google Scholar

9 Sometime Professor of Sanskrit at Madras University (d. 1979).

10 See Pearson, J. D., “Oriental Manuscripts in Europe and North America: a survey”, Bibliotheca Asiatica, VII, Zug, 1971, 381,Google Scholar and Losty, J. P., “Traditional Sciences and Technology in South Asian Bibliography, edited by Pearson, J. D., Hassocks, Sussex, 1979, 241.Google Scholar

11 This work is being undertaken by D. Wujastyk of Brasenose College, Oxford.

12 See Winder, M., “Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London”, International Association of the Vrindaban Research Institute, Bulletin III, 1976, 19–21.Google Scholar

13 The Government of Kerala recently set up a publication division in the Government Ayurvedic College, Trivandium, for the exclusive purpose of collecting information concerning the available literature on traditional medicine and its publication.

14 Ricklefs, M. C. and Voorhoeve, P., Indonesian manuscripts in Great Britain: a catalogue of manuscripts in Indonesian languages in British public collections (London Oriental Bibliographies, V), Oxford, 1977, 25.Google Scholar

15 See Huang-ti Net Ching Su Wên, The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, translated by Veith, I., Baltimore, 1949.Google Scholar

16 See Chinese medicine: an exhibition illustrating the traditional medicine of China, London, 1966, p. 15, no. 71, and plate taken from this manuscript at the end of the publication showing the pressure points for use in manipulation.Google Scholar

17 See Chinese medicine (above).

18 The Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine came into existence in 1968 and included the library and museum belonging to the Wellcome Trustees. In 1973 it was announced that the museum would be given on permanent loan to the Science Museum, where the first gallery was opened in December 1980.

19 Bawden, C. R., “A volume of the Kanjur in Manchu translation in the Library of the Wellcome Institute”, Zentralasiatische Studien1, 1980 (in the press).Google Scholar

20 Wainwright, M. D. and Matthews, N., A guide to Western manuscripts and documents in the British Isles relating to South andSouth-East Asia, London, 1965, 253–7.Google ScholarMatthews, N. and Wainwright, M. D., A guide to manuscripts and documents in the British Isles relating to the Far East, Oxford, 1977, 93–6.Google Scholar

21 Moorat, S. A. J., Catalogue of Western manuscripts on medicine and science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library: I MSS. written before 1650 A.D., London, 1962;Google ScholarII written after 1650 A.D., A–M, N–Z, London, 1973.Google Scholar

22 See Allan, N., “Gustave Alexandre Liétard, orientalist and physician”, Medical History, XXV, 1981, 85–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23 In this instance the manuscript, providing the ink with which it is written is nonfugitive, is washed in warm water with a few drops of wetting agent to remove dirt. Should the ink be fugitive, then the surface is cleaned with a plastic eraser. This having been accomplished, the missing parts of the manuscript, torn edges and other deficiencies are filled in with Japanese tissue. Palm leaves are cleaned with a soft cloth or plastic eraser and then washed as an ordinary manuscript. They are re-inked by applying a mixture of lamp black and Polyethylene Glycol 200 to the leaf with a small pad or fine sponge. Damaged palm leaves are repaired by lamination with lens-tissue, and gaps in the leaf filled with blank palm leaf or veneer paper.