extract from Medical Book Societies in England in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries W. J. BISHOP London, England
THE CONVIVIO-MEDICAL SOCIETY OF GLOUCESTERSHIREThis society was founded about 1768 on the proposal of John Fewster, a surgeon of Thornbury, Gloucestershire (7). The original proposal was that a number of local medical men should meet once a week and dine at each others houses to report and discuss cases and to purchase new publications on medical subjects. The first members were Edward Jenner of Berkeley, Daniel Ludlow of Sodbury, and Fewster, who was elected Treasurer and Librarian. After some time they were joined by others and it was agreed to hold the meetings at the Ship Inn at Alveston, some ten miles from Bristol. This society was still in existence in 1789, but in 1838 there were only two surviving members and according to Baron (8) the society had ceased to exist long before that year. This was not perhaps a book society in the strict sense; the circulation of books seems to have been a secondary objective. It would nevertheless be very interesting to know a little more about the library side of its activities.
THE MEDICAL BOOK SOCIETIES OF BRISTOL
Bristol had an extraordinary number of medical societies and clubs in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (10). Most of these centred round the Royal Infirmary which had been founded in 1736 and was a scene of great professional activity. Several of these professional associations were book clubs formed for the purpose of circulating medical and surgical books amongst the members. Nearly all had a social side in the form of an occasional dinner or supper at private houses or at some tavern. A great deal of information regarding these societies was unearthed by the painstaking researches of G. Munro Smith, the historian of the Bristol Royal Infirmary (11). Many points in their societies is not always clear. A Bristol Medical Society was founded about the year 1788 and dissolved in 1793 or 1794 by the sale of the books which had been purchased. Meetings were held in the committee room of the Infirmary. This was not simply a book society because medical papers were read and discussed. This Society was probably revived, as appears from a label headed "Bristol Medical Society" which was found pasted in a book published in 1805. This label contained a list of ten local practitioners who were evidently members of some book club. Another list referring to a circulating book club, with the date 1796-97, also survives. This has twelve names, and as six of these were at one time or another physicians to the Bristol Royal Infirmary, Munro Smith thinks that this Society was probably the Infirmary Medical Reading Society, which was in existence as late as 1819.
The Medical Book Society was founded on January 1, 1796 and its original members were Thomas Baynton, Thomas Griffiths, W. H. Goldwyer, S. S. Salmon, Thomas Shute, David Davies, Richard Smith, T. W. Dyer, James Dew, John Newman, Samuel Williams, and Francis Cheyne Bowles. The moving spirit in the enterprise was Bowles, then an energetic young man of twenty-five who was appointed Treasurer of the Club at its first meeting. The first copy of the Rules states that the objects of the Society were for "promoting a friendly intercourse among its members, and purchasing medical books." Meetings were to be held at members' houses in rotation, on the first Friday in every month, at six o'clock "to take tea and converse on medical subjects." There was an annual subscription of half a guinea. At the end of the year the books were to be sold by auction "to the best bidder," and "such books as will not produce half the prime cost become the property of the member who porpos'd them at that price." Each book was to be kept a certain number of days and a fine of sixpence per day was exacted for retention beyond the limit.
The rules of this Society of 1796 are similar to those of the Medical Reading Society established in March 1807 and the one may have been the direct successor to the other. On the other hand there is evidence showing that the Medical Book Society still existed in February 1807 and that its membership was with one exception the same as it had been in 1796. Not one of the members of the old Medical Book Society was among the eleven original members of the Medical Reading Society, and Munro Smith's conclusion is that the two societies were quite distinct.
The Members of the honorary medical staff of the Bristol Infirmary were among its most active promoters and supporters. Medical Reading Society, founded on March 28, 1807 with similar objects and rules to the Medical Book Society, is still in existence after the lapse of one hundred and fifty years. This Society originally had eleven members but the number was raised to twelve in February 1808. One rule of the Society stated that "each member shall keep an account of the books received by him and to whom forwarded, which account shall be regularly sent to the monthly meetings at or before seven o'clock." The penalty for omission to do this was five shillings or two and sixpence at different times. The little books referred to were known as the members' "Green Registers." They are frequently mentioned in the Minutes and Rules and they throw great light on the reading habits of the members. Their use was discontinued in 1840. From the beginning a ledger was to be kept by the Secretary for the entry of all books received and by whom proposed and to whom and when they were sent. With the exception of a few years all these records still exist together with many Minute Books, Fine Lists, and Sale Lists. The Rules were revised in 1877, 1881-2, and 1925.
The later medical societies of Bristol, including the Bristol Medico-Chirurgical Society founded early in 1812, included the circulation of books among their objects but they were not purely book societies and do not therefore come within the scope of this paper. It may be noted that the Bristol Library Society, founded on December 15, 1772, was one of the early general circulating libraries to be established in the Provinces.
extract from Batty Shaw's paper Oldest Medical Societies in Britain
A notable exclusion is Bristol which has a remarkable record of early medical societies, ten medical societies and book clubs being formed in the city between 1788-1850 (Smith, 1914). The history of the Bristol medical societies also illustrates a trap for the unwary historian in that the present Bristol Medico-Chirurgical Society founded in 1874 is a separate organization from an earlier society of the same name which existed from 1812 to ?1825.
Both extracts above refer to
SMITH, G. MUNRO. Notes on some Bristol Medical societies. Bristol med.-chir. J. 32:268-286,1914, which I have not yet obtained