Posted 7-19-01
photo by Susan GriffithWhat is a rare book? James Edmonson, curator of Dittrick Medical History Center, and Julian Kassen, a retired physician from Kaiser Permanente, tell the story of what makes a book extraordinary through a display of rare books on dermatology. The exhibit is at the Allen Memorial Library through October. |
CLEVELAND -- Is a book rare or just old? By telling the history of dermatology and syphilology, Dittrick Museum of Medical History at Case Western Reserve University illustrates the meaning of rarity through selections of visually appealing and important books from its collections.
Approximately 40 manuscripts will be displayed through December at the Allen Memorial Library in a free and public exhibit. The exhibit items came from 2,000 texts, dating from 1506 through the 1930s, on dermatology in Dittrick's archives.
Each books had to meet the guidelines of being rare as well as a major contributor to the understanding of syphilis and skin diseases.
In the new exhibit, Dittrick's curator James Edmonson followed the criteria that Jeremy Norton, a prominent dealer in rare medical books, uses in determining a book's rarity.
Edmonson cites these criteria as scarcity, historical importance of its author or subject, physical characteristics of the book, printing factors, the association or ownership of the book, and the book's condition.
Working closely with Edmonson on this exhibit was Julian Kassen, a retired physician from Kaiser Permanente. Kassen, who volunteers at the museum, conducted the research for each item's legend.
The exhibit's books come primarily from collections donated by Cleveland medical doctors William Corlett (1854-1948), one of Cleveland's leading dermatologists and a professor of dermatology and syphilology at Western Reserve University, and Harold Newton Cole (1884-1966), a Cleveland physician. Cole was an avid collector of important works such as the first edition of Girolamo Francastoro's Syphilis, sive Morbus Gallicus (1530) -- a poem that introduced the term "syphilis."
A book by dermatologist Moriz Kaposi, who discovered and named the Kaposi sarcoma in 1872, is an example of a pioneer in dermatology with importance today, said Edmonson. While the disease was once rare, it is now seen in people with AIDS. Kassen saw only one case in his general medical practice of more than 50 years.
Among the other donations from the doctors' collections in the exhibit is Noah Worcester's A synopsis of the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of the more common and important disease of the skin. The 1845 volume has 60 colored illustrations of skin diseases and was the first complete book on dermatology in America. He was a professor at WRU's medical department in the 1840s.
"Corlett's and Cole's collections contained important works on dermatology and syphilology," says Edmonson. Corlett gave his collection to the museum in 1936, and Dittrick received Cole's books in 1951 through the Cleveland Medical Library Association, which ran the museum until CWRU's College of Arts and Sciences took it over in 1998.
"What you see in the exhibit is just the tip of the iceberg," says Edmonson.
The Dittrick Museum has displays on Cleveland's medical history in its home on the library's third floor. Stored on racks and shelves behind the museum's exhibits are the Dittrick's archives, with more than 50,000 medical books and another 50,000 artifacts. The museum is one of the country's largest centers of medical history.
Edmonson has searched for creative and unusual ways to bring these artifacts and books out of storage. He utilizes available spaces throughout Allen Memorial Library.
The current exhibit is in the library's second floor reading room between the tables where students and researchers study medicine.
The exhibit can be seen during Allen Memorial Library hours -- 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, and 1-6 p.m. Sundays.
The Dittrick Center is open for researchers from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. The Dittrick Museum of Medical History is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. weekdays.
For information, call 216-368-3648.
