19th Century Catalogue Now Online

Written by on August 19, 2014

In a previous post we looked at the history of the College Library’s catalogues, including details of various printed catalogues, card catalogues, and the current online catalogue. Approximately two-thirds of the library’s collections have been added to our online catalogue so far, so we still occasionally need to make use of the older finding aids. The most comprehensive of the printed catalogues was published in two volumes in 1885 and 1901 by Alexander Duncan, a former Secretary and Librarian of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons. Duncan’s catalogue serves as an excellent record of the library’s collections at the end of the 19th century, and is a very helpful tool for tracking down books which don’t yet have online records.

As part of our ongoing digitisation programme, both volumes of Duncan’s catalogue have been scanned and made available online. The first section of Volume 1 is embedded below. You can browse through the rest of Volume 1 and Volume 2 on our website at http://heritage.rcpsg.ac.uk/collections.

Our digitisation efforts continue apace so keep an eye on the website for more updates. In addition to Duncan’s catalogue, you can also find texts on the history of the College and the life of our founder, Peter Lowe, as well as copies from our archive of handwritten case-books, journals and a book of herbal remedies.

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  1. […] part of the College Library’s collections. There is no mention of it in either volume of Alexander Duncan’s 19th century printed catalogue, but it does make an appearance in the card catalogue, compiled in the mid-20th century. It seems […]

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The College’s heritage collections – including thousands of medical and surgical instruments, rare books, archives, and pictures – span over 6 centuries and are an excellent resource for exploring the history of medicine and the history of the city of Glasgow. Many items from the collections have been digitised and are available to view here. Our digitisation work is ongoing, and we add new items to the site regularly, so keep checking back to discover more.

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