Handwritten letter by John Shaw Billlings to potential library donor. Image caption on page 25 of the book US National Library of Medicine: "In this letter to a potential donor, May 13, 1872, John Shaw Billings explained his ambition for the library: 'I am trying to form a great national Medical Library here - a work of great labor - which I am satisfied can only be done under government auspices. We have now about 18,000 vols - on our shelves in the fireproof building of the Army Med Museum. Catalogued and open to the profession - and it is now on a proper basis as the Medical Section of the National or Congressional Library. I want to make it as complete as it can be made and the great difficulty of course is to get old pamphlets - and to complete our files of journals.'"
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