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Over 3,000 volumes of medical history – State Library is given important medicine-historical collection

More than 3,000 volumes are comprised by the top-class collection of medicine-historical works donated to the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek by Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h. c. mult. Gerd Plewig, long-time Director of the Hospital and Polyclinic for Dermatology and Allergology in Munich, and his wife Dr. med. Helga Lincke-Plewig. The so-called "Bibliotheca Historia Dermatologiae" contains important, rare and unique medical printed works from five centuries, among them valuable editions of the work by Andreas Vesalius (1514 – 1564), anatomist and personal doctor of Emperor Charles V and King Philip II of Spain.

Gerd and Helga Plewig expanded the collection continuously since the mid-1970s and registered all works systematically and in detail. The "Bibliotheca Historia Dermatologiae" comprises over 3,000 volumes of medical literature from the 16th to the 20th century, frequently in the form of first editions and supplied with dedications, among them numerous rare and unique titles. Among them are editions of the ground-breaking work "De humani corporis fabrica libri septem" by Vesalius, who is considered the founder of modern-age anatomy, numerous medical atlases and numerous coloured chromo-lithographic plates on the specialisation field of dermatology. Moreover, the collection contains over 60 volumes from the private library of Duke Carl Theodor of Bavaria (1839 – 1909), who was a practising ophthalmologist, parts of libraries of well-known representatives of medicine, rare standard works of dermatology published in the USA, as well as professional journals.

The collection of Gerd and Helga Plewig excellently complements the large holdings of medical and pharmaceutical printed works from the 16th to the 19th century already preserved by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, the medicine-historical focus of which is characterised particularly by the library of the doctor and medicine historian Karl Sudhoff (1853 – 1938).

Numerous titles have been unavailable for many years and have so far been present only in European specialist libraries. The Vesalius edition of 1543 and the facsimile of the Bremer Presse of 1934 in particular now permit to close gaps in the BSB's holdings.

Dr. Klaus Ceynowa, Director General of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek: "The generous donation by Gerd and Helga Plewig is a windfall for the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. The voluminous and carefully compiled private collection closes relevant gaps and constitutes an essential supplement of the medicine-historical holdings. The collection is now available to research and scholarship in one of Europe's most important universal and academic libraries."

"A hope has become reality – the medicine-historical collection compiled in the course of decades has been taken over by the Munich State Library. We are very pleased." said Gerd and Helga Plewig on the occasion of the handover.

After his studies of medicine and a stay in the USA for several years, Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h. c. mult. Gerd Plewig, born 1939, started working at the Hospital and Polyclinic for Dermatology and Allergology of the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich for the first time in 1969. Between 1982 and 1991, he was the Director of the Dermatologic Hospital at the Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf. He returned to Munich in 1991, where he was the Director of the Hospital and Polyclinic for Dermatology and Allergology up to 2006. He is the author of several reference works on dermatology and venereology and editor of "Pantheon der Dermatologie".

Image material

  • Gerd Plewig in his office with the second edition of the work of Andreas Vesalius "De humani corporis fabrica libri septem" printed in Basel in 1555
  • A quick glance into a work during the move of the collection to the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
  • Volumes of the "Bibliotheca Historica Dermatologiae" accommodated in the stacks of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

Download of the pictures: https://syncandshare.lrz.de/getlink/fiJMqmmMY2GLsyDAbVSzMh/
Copyright/all rights: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek/R. Bahramian

Please note that the images are made available exclusively for the stated or agreed purpose and for reporting about the above-mentioned medicine-historical collection. Any use in a different context is subject to approval and, possibly, payment of fees.

Press release for download
Press release  (PDF, 170 KB)

Contact persons

Dr. Claudia Bubenik
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books
Ludwigstrasse 16, 80539 Munich
Phone  +49 89 28638-2261
claudia.bubenik@bsb-muenchen.de

Peter Schnitzlein
Press and Public Relations
Phone  +49 89 28638-2429
presse@bsb-muenchen.de

 

About the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
Founded in 1558 by Duke Albrecht V, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, which holds almost 37 million media units, is the largest scholarly universal library in Germany and one of the most important heritage institutions worldwide. With around three million digitized works, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek holds the largest digital data stock of all German libraries. The library offers a broad variety of services in the field of innovative digital use scenarios.

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