Exeter medics explore rare medical books in the Bodleian’s special collections

Exeter students examine rare medical books from the Bodleian’s special collections

Exeter medical students and Fellows had the opportunity to see some rare and unique medical books and papers from the Bodleian’s special collections recently thanks to Dr Chris Fletcher, Professorial Fellow and Fellow Librarian at Exeter College and Keeper of Special Collections at the Bodleian.

Highlights included the case notes of the first ever patient to receive penicillin (a policeman named Albert Alexander), a wipe clean illustrated surgical textbook, and a first edition of Grey’s Anatomy.

After the visit Exeter’s Staines Medical Research Fellow, Dr Gail Hayward, said: “As a researcher aiming to preserve the function of antibiotics for future generations, it was amazing to see the notes and pictures from experiments which showed for the first time how effective penicillin could be, and to know it all happened just a few hundred metres from Exeter’s lodge.”

One of the medical records the group was able to view