OSLER, WILLIAM. 1849-1919.


Autograph Letter Signed ("Wm Osler")to Dr [Thomas Percy] Kirkpatrick, mentioning his book collection and catalogue, 2 pp, 12mo, Oxford, July 26, 1919, on his 13 Norham Gardens stationery, with original transmittal envelope. OSLER ON HIS 70TH BIRTHDAY, WITH MENTION OF HIS LIBRARY AND CATALOGUE. Just 6 months before his death, Osler writes "We had a delightful gathering at the R.S.M. and my brother Regius of Cambridge was splendid ... I think you would be interested in my library & the catalogue I am trying to make...." Thomas Percy Claude Kirkpatrick (1869-1954) was a Dublin physician and medical historian, "...an inspiration and source of information to successive generations of Irish medical historians" (ODNB 31, pp 812-813). Cushing describes the celebration of Osler's seventieth birthday at the Royal Society of Medicine on July 11, 1919, and four days later Osler was in bed with a cough and high fever. This would be Osler's last birthday. See Cushing 2, pp 656-665.