Description
The collection consists of materials stemming from
Simon Varey's Hernández research, which culminated in the editorship of
two volumes: 1) "The Mexican Treasury; the Writings of Dr. Francisco
Hernández" (English translations of some of Hernández's primary
texts, and an unraveling of the complex history of the discovery and
dissemination of his writings); 2) "Searching for the Secrets of Nature; the
Life and Works of Dr. Francisco Hernández" (interpretive essays by
various authors, edited with Rafael Chabrán and Dora B. Weiner). The
eminent physician Francisco Hernández was sent to New Spain in 1570 by
King Philip II of Spain as the first "protomédico de las Indias", to
gather scientific descriptions of indigenous natural history and medical
practices. Purchase by the UCLA Biomedical Library in 1992 of Hernández'
"Thesaurus" ("Rerum Medicarum Novae Hispaniae Thesaurus"), published in Rome in
1651, sparked wide scholarly interest in Hernández' life and work. Simon
Varey joined a group of scholars at UCLA in the organization of a lecture series
and two major conferences built around Hernández, and became a major
force in the project to translate significant portions of the Hernández
texts into English. The Varey papers include copies of 16th and 17th century
texts, historical and contemporary commentaries, documents pertaining to New
World natural history and the impact discoveries from the New World had on
Europe, and extensive bibliographies and notes.
Background
Simon Varey (1951-2002) excelled as teacher, writer, scholar, critic, editor,
and great cook. He served for sixteen years as tutor, instructor, and professor
of English at Cambridge University, the University of Utrecht, and at UCLA,
publishing well-received works on Viscount Bolingbroke, Henry Fielding, and the
18th-century English novel. In 1990 he joined the UCLA Center for Medieval and
Renaissance Studies. In 1992, occasioned by the 500th anniversary of Columbus'
arrival in the New World, the UCLA Biomedical Library History and Special
Collections Division bought the 1651 Rome edition of the writings of Francisco
Hernández, a 16th century Spanish physician who was sent by Philip II to
collect and report on the medical knowledge of the New World. This acquisition
sparked Dr. Varey's and many other scholars' interest in Hernández' life
and works, and led to a yearlong lecture series on "Medicine in the Age of
Columbus," two conferences on "The Meeting of Two Cultures" at the National
Library of Medicine in Bethesda and at UCLA, and the resolve to translate and
publish parts of the Hernández texts into English, which had never been
done.
Extent
2 storage cartons,
1 document box
(30 linear inches)
Restrictions
Publication Rights
Availability
The collection is open for research. Contact the History and Special
Collections Division, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, UCLA, for
information.