Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
The University of Sydney Library acknowledges that our buildings, collections, and practices exist on unceded Aboriginal lands. We recognise the diversity and knowledges of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and students across all the lands the University stands on, and respect the ongoing connection Aboriginal people have to these lands, their cultural practices, knowledge systems and histories. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present, who have handed down custodianship to each generation for more than 60,000 years.
Money, J. (2021). Yilabara (Now). Filmed on Gadigal Country. Commissioned by the University of Sydney Library
The Hodgkinson Collection: rare and special medical books now in the Library catalogue
Katherine and Darryl Hodgkinson
Our lives have been deeply enriched by the journey of bringing together this collection of rare and important books on anatomy and surgery with a special focus on plastic surgery. For us, these books were integral not only to our research but provided a source of inspiration. We are delighted that our collection has found a home in the Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections where we hope that these books will continue to be a resource for generations to come.
The Library is pleased to share the recent generous gift of the Hodgkinson Collection, consisting of over 140 rare and significant books collected over decades by Darryl and Katherine Hodgkinson. The collection is focused on the history and development of the field of plastic surgery, and includes relevant books of historical, scientific and social importance. The books range from a 1555 second edition of Vesalius’ De Humani Corporis Fabrica to more contemporary 20th century works.
This donation joins the Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections, which is amongst the largest collections of its kind in Australia, consisting of over 300,000 items. Books on medicine and health are one of the collection’s strengths, which will now be well-complimented by the Hodgkinson Collection.
Rare Books and Special Collections are used for research and teaching at the University and are open to the public to view. These collections will be used to support academic curiosity and investigation for generations to come.
About the Hodgkinson Collection
Darryl Hodgkinson graduated from the University of Sydney in 1972, with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, before training at The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. There, he credits the encouragement and assistance of a rare book librarian as the catalyst of his collection. The first book he acquired was Harold Gillies’ Plastic Surgery of The Face (1920); the second was Gaspare Tagliacozzi’s De Curtorum Chirugia (1598).
Darryl and Katherine met in the 1980s and bonded over their passion for art collecting, culture and travel. Together, the pair have scoured antiquarian book shops, universities and medical institutions across the world, building their collection.
Their passion for medicine has grown over the years – Darryl worked as a plastic surgeon until his retirement in 2023 and together they founded Operation Restore Hope Australia, which provides surgery for children in the Philippines with cleft lip, cleft palate and craniofacial deformities. Throughout the decades, Darryl and Katherine credit their book collection as providing inspiration and context for their medical work.
Library Cultural Collections staff with Katherine and Darryl Hodgkinson
Collection Highlights
The Hodgkinson Collection consists of over 140 items, which are now housed in the Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections at Fisher Library. Highlights include:
- The 1685 first edition of Bidloo’s Anatomia Humani Corporis – one of the pioneering scientific observations which laid the foundation of forensic identification using fingerprints (Hodgkinson Folio 0005)
- The 1555 second edition of Vesalius’ monumental and groundbreaking work, De Humani Corporis Fabrica, in which over 200 of the Galenic views of anatomy which had been firmly held by the medical establishment since Roman times, are discredited (Hodgkinson Folio 0001)
- Degli Innesti Animali by Giuseppe Baronio, 1804 – this work is an important contribution to plastic surgery as the first account of a successful skin graft in a ram, and one of the first examples of pure scientific surgical research. The illustration of the ram was adopted as the symbol of the Plastic Surgical Research Council of America. (Hodgkinson Folio 0064)
- Les Oeuvres de Ambroise Paré 1575 – Paré was regarded as the founding father of modern surgery, having served as surgeon to four kings of France. He was known for introducing the ligature for control of haemorrhage. (Hodgkinson 0004)
The full collection can be found in the Library catalogue.
Darryl Hodgkinson
De curtorum chirurgia per insitionem
Library staff working on collection inventory and packaging
Library staff working on collection inventory and packaging
Research and teaching
The collection is available to research and to enrich learning experiences. Please get in touch with the Cultural Collections team (email cultural.collections@usyd.libanswers.com) to discuss collaborations such as:
- Organising class visits, object-based learning or class projects
- Research projects
- Public programs such as talks
Browse online
To discover more Rare Books and Special Collections online, visit:
- Digital Collections – Discover thousands of digitised books, manuscripts, illustrations, journals, photographs and documents.
- Google Arts & Culture – explore collection highlights and stories, including the recent conservation of a 450-year-old copy of Nicolaus Copernicus’ De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres).
Give to the Library
Make an enduring contribution to scholarship by giving to the Library. The Library welcomes donations of seminal contemporary and historical items and special collections subject to assessment. Rare books are a priceless resource for researchers and students, now and into the future. Find out more