The Hunterian Collection is one of the best-known collections of the University of Glasgow and is cared for by the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery and Glasgow University Library. It contains 650 manuscripts and some 10,000 printed books, [1] 30,000 coins and 15,000 anatomical and natural history specimens. The collection was originally assembled by the anatomist William Hunter.
The collection was assembled by the anatomist and physician, William Hunter (1718–83), who was an avid collector of coins, medals, paintings, shells, minerals, books and manuscripts. [1] Considerable purchases were made in Paris from monastic houses and private libraries, such as those of César de Missy and Jean-Baptiste Colbert. [2] Other major acquisitions were made in Vienna and Italy.
The library and other collections remained in London after Hunter's death for the use of his nephew, the physician and pathologist, Matthew Baillie (1761–1823), as well as William Cumberland Cruikshank (1745–1800). It moved to the University of Glasgow in 1807. [3] The coins were stored for six years in the Bank of Scotland.
The manuscripts number around 650, of which approximately two thirds are medieval (biblical manuscripts) or Renaissance in origin; over a hundred of the remaining manuscripts are oriental (Persian and Arabic). [1] The oldest manuscript is the Homilies of Saint Basil, dated by a colophon to the year 859. [4] The printed books include 534 incunabula. [1] Hunter purchased a collection of biblical manuscripts from Caesar de Missy.
About a third of Hunter's books are on the subject of medicine. They include key historical texts by authors including Hippocrates, Galen, Vesalius and William Harvey, as well as the writings of Hunter's contemporaries, such as William Smellie, Albinus[ ambiguous ] and Albrecht von Haller. [1]
Hunter's collection contained about 15,000 specimens and preparations focusing on human anatomy and pathology, and natural history. [5]
Hunter began to collect coins in about 1770, spending over £22,000 on them before his death in 1783. [6] The resulting collection is believed to be the finest ever assembled by a private individual. [7] George MacDonald estimated, "Its trays contain about 30,000 specimens, of which over 12,000 are Greek and nearly the same number Roman." [7]
According to the Introduction of Catalogue of Greek Coins in the Hunterian Collection (MacDonald 1899), Hunter purchased many important collections, including those of Horace Walpole and the bibliophile Thomas Crofts. [7] In 1782, in Vienna, he purchased the Hess collection, including around 700 Roman Imperial gold coins, for £2,400. [6] King George III even donated an Athenian gold piece. [8]
John Hunter was a Scottish surgeon, one of the most distinguished scientists and surgeons of his day. He was an early advocate of careful observation and scientific method in medicine. He was a teacher of, and collaborator with, Edward Jenner, pioneer of the smallpox vaccine. He paid for the stolen body of Charles Byrne, and proceeded to study and exhibit it against the deceased's explicit wishes. His wife, Anne Hunter, was a poet, some of whose poems were set to music by Joseph Haydn.
William Hunter was a Scottish anatomist and physician. He was a leading teacher of anatomy, and the outstanding obstetrician of his day. His guidance and training of his equally famous brother, John Hunter, was also of great importance.
The Hunterian is a complex of museums located in and operated by the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the oldest museum in Scotland. It covers the Hunterian Museum, the Hunterian Art Gallery, the Mackintosh House, the Zoology Museum and the Anatomy Museum, which are all located in various buildings on the main campus of the university in the west end of Glasgow.
James Douglas was a Scottish physician and anatomist, and Physician Extraordinary to Queen Caroline.
Glasgow University Library in Scotland is one of the oldest and largest university libraries in Europe. At the turn of the 21st century, the main library building itself held 1,347,000 catalogued print books, and 53,300 journals. In total, the university library system including branch libraries now holds approximately 2.5 million books and journals, along with access to 1,853,000 e-books, and over 50,000 e-journals. The University also holds extensive archival material in a separate building. This includes the Scottish Business Archive, which alone amounts to 6.2 kilometers of manuscripts.
Rev Joseph Dacre Carlyle FRSE was an English orientalist. He gained church preferment and travelled widely.
Matthew Baillie FRS was a British physician and pathologist, credited with first identifying transposition of the great vessels (TGV) and situs inversus.
The University of Glasgow School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing is the medical school of the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and is one of the largest in Europe, offering a 5-year MBChB degree course. It is ranked 2nd in the UK for medicine by The Times Good University Guide 2018 and joint 1st in the UK by the Complete University Guide 2021. The School of Medicine uses lecture-based learning, problem-based learning and Glasgow's case-based learning.
The Reverend and Learned Thomas Crofts FRS FSA was a British bibliophile, Anglican priest, Fellow of the Royal Society and European traveller.
Lectionary 162, designated by siglum ℓ162 is a Greek manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 12th century. Formerly it was labelled as Lectionary 45a.
Lectionary 239, designated by siglum ℓ239 is a Greek manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 13th century. Scrivener labelled it by 230evl. The manuscript has no complex contents.
Lectionary 240, designated by siglum ℓ240 is a Greek manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 12th century. Scrivener labelled it by 231evl. The manuscript has complex contents.
Lectionary 241, designated by siglum ℓ241 is a Greek manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. It is dated by a Colophon to the year 1199. Scrivener labelled it as 232evl. The manuscript is lacunose.
Hunter House Museum was a museum in Calderwood, East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Charles Combe FRS M.D. (1743–1817) was an English physician and numismatist.
Events from the year 1718 in Scotland.
Events from the year 1742 in Scotland.
The Hunterian Club was a Scottish literary and text publication society, founded in Glasgow in 1871.
The Entombment of Christ is an oil-on-oak panel painting by Rembrandt dated c. 1633–1635. It measures 32.2 x 40.5 cm. The composition is a variant of a painting of the same subject now in the Alte Pinakothek, in Munich.
Robert Arnot Staig FRSE (1878–1963) was a 20th-century Scottish entomologist and zoologist who served as Curator of the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow University.