The Historia Plantarum Collection is devoted to the history of botany and medicine, with a particular focus on the Old World and medicinal plants in Antiquity, the Middle Ages (Byzantium, the Arabic World, the West), and the Renaissance. Fields covered include botany, botanical illustration in manuscript and printed books, the history of medicine and pharmacy, and the history of natural sciences. The book and journal collections are complemented by slides, microfilms, and “non-book” material.

Consultation

All materials are housed in secure, non-browsing stacks, and are retrieved for users upon request, except for some reference resources on open shelves. Material of the collection is noncirculating and must be consulted on-site. Materials may not be removed from the building and there is no inter-library loan.

A computerized catalogue is currently being prepared and will soon be accessible online.

For the most part, items in the book and scientific periodical collections are available upon request, as are the slides and photographs in the image collection. Other types of material, such as facsimile editions and microfilms, are available to qualified researchers.