Rare Books & Journals – Circulating Now from NLM

A student nibbles thoughtfully on his pencil as he thinks in class.

Public Health Rhymes, 1918

April 1, 2021 Circulating Now

By Elizabeth Mullen ~ Germs that float upon the air Are sure to settle everywhere; They’ll be on pencil and on pen, And even on

Illustrated cover shows a smiling man and the words Keep Well.

NLM Collections Tour: Vaccines

March 5, 2021 Circulating Now

Welcome to a virtual tour of the historical collections of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). Today we are featuring collections about vaccines. These collections

An engraved illustration of people in a town square carrying shrouded stretchers, weeping over a body and expressing distress.

Defoe and the Plague Year

January 7, 2021 Circulating Now

By Stephen J. Greenberg ~ Until recently, if one thought of Daniel Defoe at all, it was of Robinson Crusoe, alone (well, not quite alone)

An engraving of a large crowd of people watching others dance in a ring around a bonfire.

NLM Collections Tour: Epidemics

December 17, 2020 Circulating Now

Welcome to a virtual tour of the historical collections of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). Today we are featuring collections about epidemics: some mild,

Detail of printed heading reading De Ponderatione Insensibilis perspirationis.

Revealing Data: Ars de Statica Medicina, 1614

November 5, 2020 Circulating Now

Circulating Now welcomes guest blogger Caterina Agostini, who discusses a recent acquisition at the NLM History of Medicine Division’s collection: the Ars de statica medicina

Overlaid drawings of the human skeleton showing the movements of running.

Mechanics of the Human Walking Apparatus, 1836

August 27, 2020 Circulating Now

By Allison Muri ~ Originally published in Hidden Treasure: The National Library of Medicine, 2011. Few movements in a living human depend so much on

The Langenburg Manuscript, ca. 1580

August 20, 2020 Circulating Now

By Pia F. Cuneo ~ Originally published in Hidden Treasure: The National Library of Medicine, 2011. Just as there are many different kinds of people,

Drawing of a gnat as seen under a microscope

Hooke’s Books: Influences around Robert Hooke’s Micrographia

July 23, 2020 Circulating Now

Robert Hooke (1635–1703) was an English artist, biologist, physicist, engineer, architect, and inventor, but his crowning glory was his book Micrographia: or Some Physiological Descriptions