Turning the Pages

This web version of Turning the Pages, an award-winning interactive programme developed by the British Library, allows users to virtually 'turn' pages, zoom-in on high-quality digitised images and read or listen to notes explaining the beauty and significance of each page.

Selected pages from three texts have been digitised. These showcase the breadth and depth of the Wellcome Library's collections, have strong visual appeal and represent significant landmarks in the recorded history of medicine.

You will need Shockwave to view the pages - help on downloading Shockwave. Once installed, choose either the narrowband or broadband link to the text (depending on the bandwith of your internet connection) to download the most appropriate file.  Alternatively, choose the non-Shockwave link for a static version of a text, viewable in standard web pages.

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		Wellcome Apocalypse [Western MS 49] The digitised pages come from the medical section of this text written in central Europe in about 1420-30. It is mainly written in Latin, with some parts in German, in a Thuringian dialect. The script is written in dark brown ink and the entire text is profusely illustrated with colour-washed line drawings. (23 pages digitised.) Narrowband version | Broadband version | Non-Shockwave version
		Nujum al-'Ulum (Stars of Sciences) [Persian MS 373] This lavishly illuminated manuscript is a rare example of both an astrological work and a school of painting from the Deccan sultanates of central and southern India.  The manuscript is a fragment copied from an earlier work (dated AD 1575), which was probably commissioned by 'Ali 'Adil Shah II of Bijapur. (23 pages digitised.) Narrowband version | Broadband version | Non-Shockwave version
		On Cutaneous Diseases - by Robert Willan Robert Willan is regarded as the founder of dermatology as a specialty in Britain.  His On cutaneous diseases (London, 1808) is a landmark in the history of the subject and in medical illustration. (25 pages digitised.) Narrowband version | Broadband version | Non-Shockwave version