title: Why collect medical books?
abstract: The study of the original sources in the medical literature is an essential part and condition for doing good medical research. The love of books is conducive to a proper use of the source material. To support this statement, a short description of some famous book collectors in medical history is presented in this article.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Academisch Ziekenhuis Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H August
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: van Alphen
mesh_terms: D001868:Book Collecting / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D007993:Libraries, Medical / Q000266:history; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000266:history*; D012014:Reference Books, Medical