The Evan Bedford Library of Cardiology and its catalogue.

The history of doctors' private book collections was recently detailed by Thornton (1949) and started as early as the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; the majority disappeared upon the death of the collector and no lists remain. These were purely working libraries initially, but true collections soon evolved. Francis Bernard, physician to James I, left nearly 15 000 books that were sold by auction. Both these early and later collections were of a catholic nature as illustrated by that of Sir Hans Sloane, which included botanical and zoological specimens, coins, medals, and crystals, together with 40 000 volumes devoted to medicine and many other topics. The first medical library to be catalogued in a readable form was that of Sir William Osler: 'Bibliotheca Osleriana', classified and indexed by the author employing formats of his own aimed at helping the reader and researcher. This general catalogue is now a standard reference as is that of his disciple Harvey Cushing who was, however, more selective in his collecting. Apart from such references derived from private libraries, the current general check list that is most frequently quoted, is the annotated Medical Bibliography initiated by Garrison of the surgeon general's library, and subsequently revised by Morton in London in 1943 and 1954. This lists some 6800 works of outstanding importance in all branches of medicine. Thus book and auction catalogues refer to numbered items in Osler, Cushing, or Garrison and Morton. Now a fourth source will doubtless be referred to by scholars and bibliographers: The Evan Bedford Library of Cardiology: catalogue ofbooks, pamphlets and journals. This title reflects the specialised nature of his collection, but modestly fails to indicate the comprehensive nature of the library. Thus it will serve the cardiological historian or bibliophile as Garrison and Morton provide for the general medical collector. Apart from publishing