Introduction

Robert Willan is regarded as the founder of dermatology as a specialty in Britain. His On cutaneous diseases is a landmark in the history of the subject and in medical illustration.

Willan was born in Yorkshire in 1757, took his MD at Edinburgh in 1780, and practised in London. He gained a good reputation as a practitioner and teacher. From 1796 to 1800 he published a series of reports on the weather and prevalent diseases of London.

He eventually specialised in the study of skin diseases and developed the first scientific system of classification, based on precise observation over a long period. The first outline of his classification was awarded the Fothergillian gold medal by the Medical Society of London in 1790.

His book On cutaneous diseases was published in parts from 1798 to 1808 and is notable for its coloured plates prepared under Willan’s close supervision. The book contains graphic descriptions of the various diseases and many detailed case histories. Only the first volume was completed, because of Willan’s early death from tuberculosis in 1812, but his work set the pattern for the development of the specialty.

The complete text (566 pages, plus 36 colour plates) is available in the Wellcome Library. For this Turning the Pages version we have selected 12 plates, each accompanied by extracts from the book.