The Book in the History of Medicine Seminar Series

The Cedars-Sinai Program in the History of Medicine, part of the Center for the Arts and Humanities in Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, announces a new speaker series for the 2025/26 academic year: “The Book in the History of Medicine.”  In two half-hour presentations per session, the medical book in all its facets will be considered, examining single publications for their historical importance, authorship, printing history, and in individual copies, provenance and materiality. The history of individual medical history libraries and collectors will also be a topic. The series will be convened by Monique Kornell, PhD, Visiting Associate Professor, Program in the History of Medicine.

Our first session on Oct 15, at 12:00 pm. PST, features two great works in the history of medicine. Joel Klein, Molina Curator for the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences at The Huntington, will survey the provenance of the library’s newly acquired copy of the Andreas Vesalius’s De humani corporis fabrica (1543) and its felicitous return to California. Anita Guerrini, Professor Emeritus, Oregon State University, ahead of the 400th anniversary of its publication will consider William Harvey’s De motu cordis (1628) as a part of the polemical genre of the pamphlet.

We hope you will join in exploring medical history through the world of books. Please mark your calendars for 12:00 pm PST for talks on Oct. 25, Nov. 12, Dec. 17, Jan. 14, Feb. 18, April 15, May 13.

For more information and registration, click here.