Paracelsian Works at the National Library of Medicine
The National Library of Medicine's History of Medicine
Division holds an outstanding collection of works by Paracelsus.
The Library's predecessor was the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office
and the first Paracelsus work to be acquired was the
Opera Omnia Medico-Chemico-Chirurgica
(Geneva, 1658) which appears in its 1868 catalogue.
By the 1880's and the printing of the first series of the Index-
Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office,
there were an additional thirty entries.
Today, the Library's collection of works by Paracelsus continues to
grow, with five titles having been acquired since 1989.
The collection includes over 150 of the titles listed in
Karl Sudhoff's Bibliographia Paracelsica.
The earliest Paracelsus work in the collection is a copy of the
1536 Ulm edition of the Grosse Wund Artzney...
which contains annotations in the hand of Konrad Gesner.
Among other especially noteworthy holdings is the rare complete
10-part set of Paracelsus' collected works edited by
Johann Huser and published in Basel between 1589 and 1591.
Title page from one of NLM's most recently acquired works by Paracelsus.
Paracelsus,
Vom ursprung und herkommen des Bads Pfeffers (Basel, 1576)
In addition to works written by Paracelsus,
the Library holds numerous original works by
his immediate disciples as well as by authors of various
countries who were influenced by him.
It also includes a large number of historical studies
of Paracelsus' life and contributions to medicine and science.
The Library's collection is a rich resource for the study of an
innovative and controversial figure in the history of medicine.
Access to all of these titles is provided through CATLINE,
the Library's online book catalog.
In addition,
many of these titles are available on microfilm for loan and for purchase.
Margaret Kaiser
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