From the Rare Books

Whew! We finally began shelving the rare books yesterday, literally just un-boxing them onto the shelves. The next step will be cleaning them and arranging them in some sort of order, which is, as yet, undecided. 

A few months ago, we'd purchased six teak bookcases at auction, and I still think that these will be enough to house the 236 books from the collections of John Archer, Upton Scott

and William Osler,

with room left for some of the associated ephemera. 

Here are a few things that I found as we were shelving the books:

The definitive guide to pronouncing Osler's surname. 

John Archer's signature on a 1799 medical journal. 

Upton Scott's signature  on one of his books from 1773.

It was absolutely filthy work, as evidenced by my hands!

Stay tuned for more discoveries!

114 Years This Week!

I know we don't look like it, but our building turns 114 years old this year! 

We did have a bit of a facelift last year, getting all of our bricks repointed which brings out the patterns in our brickwork. Just in case you don't know, our brickwork on the ground floor is in Flemish diaper or diagonal bond, which (obviously) creates a diamond pattern!

The upper floors are in something called Monk Bond, which is more of a vertical pattern.

At first glance, the building seems simple, especially in comparison to our adjacent building, but when you take a close look, as discussed here, the building is fairly ornate. 

The building was opened on May 10, 1909, mainly because that was when Dr. William Osler would be on a trip to the US from Oxford, England, and would be coming to Baltimore to see old friends and give a lecture. It was arranged that the building would open then, and of course, the main room was named in his honor. 

Dr. Osler and a number of luminaries in the city, gathered for the dedication of the building. From Dr. Harvey Cushing's "The Life of Sir William Osler, MD" Volume II, comes the following account of the day. 

A few chapters later, Cushing mentions that Osler spent time with Marcia Noyes, the Faculty's librarian and also a very good friend of Osler's.

To see images of the construction of the building, which we discovered in November of 2022, please click here. 

Thanks to our building for serving us so well and so steadily over the past 114 years. We hope that you stand for 114 more years!