Author: Danny Rees

Amongst the Libary’s collection of fiction is a copy of Dr No, featuring the redoubtable secret agent, James Bond, created by the ex-Naval Intelligence Officer, Ian Fleming. Both the cinematic and literary worlds of Bond are inhabited by vividly imagined… Continue reading

Last year in Newcastle I was lucky enough to present a paper at my first Social History Society conference. It was such a rewarding experience that I could not wait to go again. This year it took place over three… Continue reading

Some items in our collections are intriguing because they sit on disciplinary boundaries or ‘blend’ traditionally polarised subjects such as art and science. This photograph represents a combination of the embryonic field of neurology, Shakespeare’s play Macbeth and the practice… Continue reading

This dramatic portrait, held by the Library, shows Sir John Frederick William Herschel, (1792-1871) esteemed astronomer and mathematician gazing into the distance. Herschel named four of the moons of Uranus (a planet his father William is credited with discovering) and… Continue reading

In 1887, writing under the pseudonym of Aesculapius Scalpel, Hackney GP Edward Berdoe published a frightening novel portraying everyday cruelty and callousness at the fictional St Bernard’s teaching hospital.  Despite being a work of  fiction, the author claimed 75 per… Continue reading

Two new Insight talks, designed to highlight the breadth of the Library’s collections, are coming up in October: ‘Ancient Medicine: Secrets of the Greeks’ on the 4th at 3pm and ‘Lovesick’ on the 18th at 6pm. Learn about unusual ancient cures for a ‘wandering… Continue reading

Experience some of our books through the senses of touch and smell this Thursday 6th September, 3-4pm as Jo Maddocks offers her popular talk as part of the Insights series. You can discover what came before Braille and why old books have different odours. Free tickets are… Continue reading

Join us for this Thursday evening’s free Insight talk: a full-colour forray into the dynamic world of Superheroes with our Ephemera curator, Stephen Lowther. The talk will be richly illustrated with some unusual and rare graphic novels from the Library’s collections… Continue reading

This striking and beautiful exposure of the surface of the human brain recently won the Wellcome Image Awards. Taken by Robert Ludlow as the patient awaited a treatment for epilepsy, this vibrant, colourful picture offers a stark contrast to the… Continue reading

It is 30 years since the Terence Higgins Trust was founded. This week’s free Library Insight talk highlights the changing approaches to AIDS in that time, as revealed through the Wellcome Library’s international AIDS posters.  The global nature of this collection… Continue reading