The Medical & Scientific Library of W. Bruce Fye Part III (online)

Bonhams’ upcoming auction, set to feature the Medical & Scientific Library of Dr. W. Bruce Fye, will offer over 300 medical books and manuscripts from the medical historian’s collection. Highlighted in the sale is a first edition copy of Edward Jenner’s Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae. Known as the “Father of Immunology,” Jenner was the first to experimentally test the folk belief that cowpox conferred immunity to smallpox, its deadly relative. His work would influence the development of the smallpox vaccine. 

On October 16, 1846, at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. John Collins Warren performed the first public operation on a patient under ether anesthesia. Dr. Henry Jacob Bigelow witnessed the event and on November 9, he described the operation to the Boston Society for Medical Improvement. The following week, it was printed in The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, the first medical journal to cover this groundbreaking achievement. An original issue of this publication is among the featured lots of the upcoming auction. Also available is a copy of Icones Anatomicae by Andreas Vesalius. His publication De Humani Corporis Fabrica transformed the science of anatomy and physiology by applying the critical methods used by humanists. To view these lots and register to bid, visit Bonhams.