William C. Gibson History of Medicine and Science Collection
In 1988 Woodward library's historical collection was renamed in honour of Dr. William C. Gibson, who was the first head of UBC's Division of the History of Medicine and Science. The books in this collection used to be housed in the Charles Woodward Memorial Room, but were moved to Rare Books and Special Collections in 2013-2014. During the dedication ceremony of this collection, Dr. Gibson spoke about the origins of the collection and the process of acquisition. His remarks can be read in full on the Woodward Library website, but the portions relating to Paré are summarized below.
Provenance and Acquisition of ParéIn 1964, UBC's Woodward library opened for the first time. Before that point, UBC did not have a dedicated biomedical library , only a small collection of texts housed in what Dr. Gibson described as "a dark hole in the windowless central core of U.B.C.'s Library building [...] the 'black hole' where the lights were dim and the place stank of musty papers."
According to Dr. Gibson's remarks, the library went into planning in 1960, and he and architect Percival Archibal Woodward immediately began a spirited campaign of book acquisition. One of their earliest triumphs, colourfully detailed in the quote to the right, was the 1963 purchase of a rare book collection belonging to American pharmacologist Dr. Chauncey Leake. UBC's 1634 edition of Paré was part of this collection, and many of its distinctive features originate with him. A bookplate identifies Dr. John Deakon Heaton (1817-1880), one of the founders of the University of Leeds, as another previous owner. |
When I told [Woodward] that my old friend from Texas days, Dr. Chauncey Leake, would sell us his rare book collection, including a first edition of Vesalius' Fabric of the Human Body for $25,000 he jumped up and down. By the second glass of milk he was shouting "I don't want to build a book cemetery. I want the milestones of science - the first time any new discovery was published. I want the students to see these, and to appreciate that U.B.C. has them. I want them displayed in glass cases, day and night." |