Cambridge Bibliographical Society – Talk on “Spiritus Anima”

The Cambridge Bibliographical Society will be hosting an event which may be of interest to SHAC’s members. On 1 May, Ed Potten and Tim Chesters will give a paper on “’Spiritus anima’ – an unrecorded seventeenth-century alchemist’s library at Clare College, Cambridge.”

The talk will take place on 1 May in Milstein Seminar Rooms, at the main University Library, 5.00-6.00pm, with refreshments from 4.30pm. All are welcome.

About their paper:
“The identity of the annotator of a collection of extraordinary seventeenth-century alchemical manuscripts, now in the Sloane Collection, has long eluded scholars. The recent discovery of a collection of sixty printed books in the Fellows’ Library at Clare College, Cambridge, all annotated in the same characteristic hand, utilizing the same complex system of cross-referencing and the same approach to organizing and recording knowledge, casts new light on the Sloane annotator, his methods and his identity. Ed Potten (University of York, and formerly Head of Rare Books at the University Library) and Dr Tim Chesters (Modern & Medieval Languages, University of Cambridge) will share their discoveries about this enigmatic annotator, accompanied by a display of books.”

Short courses at British Society for the History of Pharmacy

The British Society for the History of Pharmacy is hosting two short courses which may be of interest to SHAC’s members.

The first course covers a three-day programme on the history of pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry from 1-3 July. The programme and the application form can be downloaded here.

The second course is about ethics and philosophy of medicine and runs from 1-2 July. The programme and the application can be found here.

The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London is also hosting a three-day conference on the history and future of medicine, from 1 to 3 May. For more information and to apply, click here.

CfP: SHAC Postgraduate Workshop 2019


The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry invites submissions for the 10th Annual Postgraduate Workshop. This year’s topic will be“Society and the Creation of (al)Chemical Knowledge.”

The workshop will take place on 29-30 November, 2019, and will be hosted by the Ritman Library in Amsterdam (the Netherlands).

The deadline for applications is 1 June, 2019.
More information about the workshop and about applying can be found here.