Melbourne Rare Book Week

The Cowlishaw collection, which aims to illustrate the history of medicine and its development from themes such as witchcraft and monsters into a science, is a library of rare books acquired by physician and bibliophile Leslie Cowlishaw in the early 20th century. It includes incunabula (printed books before 1500), alongside works by important classical authors of medicine such as Hippocrates, and early anatomical works such as those by Andreas Vesalius and Johann Remmelin. This 2025 Cowlishaw Symposium will include talks about the Black Death, Vesalius, Aurelius Cornelius Celsus, Remmelin, and Al – Zahrāwī.

Presented by: Royal Australasian College of Surgeons at 250 – 290 Spring Street, East Melbourne