early mordern histry of science

Early Modern History of Science - Printed Books

Especially for chemistry and the related field of alchemy--but with notable collections as well in dentistry, botany, and agriculture--Departmental resources are strong. Resources in other areas of the sciences include such standard works as those by Vesalius, Copernicus, Pare, Hooke, and Newton; but these works are not always works represented in their earliest printed editions.

The history of chemistry before 1850 is the special focus of the Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection. Smith holds some material relevant to the history of science generally, as well as materials which postdate 1850, but its major strength is chemistry before that date. Its subspecialties include the history of chemical education; such allied fields as metallurgy and mining, dyeing, and fireworks; alchemy, especially in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries; illustrative materials (including portraits of chemists and depictions of chemical laboratories, processes, and apparatus); and the publications, and some manuscripts, of Robert Boyle and Joseph Priestley.

Illustration from De Stirpium by Leonhart Fuchs (Basle: [Michael Isengrin], 1549) The Thomas W. Evans Collection gathers resources for the historical study of dentistry. These extend back to the seventeenth century and supplement area medical history collections. Runs of nineteenth-century dental journals are well-represented.





Botanicals, many from the collection of Penn Professor of Botany John W. Harshberger, include such books as the Hortus sanitatis; a beautifully-bound, heavily-annotated, and hand-colored illustrated copy of Leonhart Fuchs, De stirpium (Basle 1549); works by Brunfels and Gerard, and other similar works.

Agricultural history is the special province of the library of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, the oldest American agricultural improvement society, which is housed in the Department. Classical as well as modern texts are preserved in this library; so are many of its own printed and manuscript records.