Tavistock Books

GUY'S HOSPITAL. [cover title];

[Souvenir View Book]

[London ?]: (n. d.). Ca 1920s. Inside, a single long sheet folds out concertina-style to reveal ten monochrome collotype views, each neatly captioned in the plate with white lettering: the Statue of Thomas Guy in the courtyard, the hospital Colonnade with groups of suited physicians and visitors, the Colonnade Steps seen from the park, Astley Cooper Ward (Men’s Accident Ward) with rows of beds and a watchful nurse at her station, the comfortably furnished Nurses’ Sitting Room, Martha Ward, a fully staffed Operation Theatre in use, Stephen Ward for men and boys, the ivy-covered Medical School Buildings, and finally the Bermondsey and Rotherhithe War Memorial Children’s Ward with lines of small cots. Landscaper format: 3-11/16" x 7". Grey paper covers, with gilt stamping. Now housed in a clear archival mylar sleeve. General wear, nicks to edges, age-toning to extremities. Wear to spine paper. 1st image beginning to detach from the front cover, and the rear cover starting to separate along the joint. A Good copy of this fragile, uncommon survivor. Item #52331

Guy’s Hospital, founded in 1721 by philanthropist and Bible printer Thomas Guy as a charitable hospital for “incurables,” developed over the 18th and 19th centuries into a major clinical and teaching centre, closely associated with the medical school that later became part of King’s College London. The statue of Guy in the courtyard and the long classical colonnade shown in this viewbook echo its Georgian origins, while the Nightingale-style open wards, operating theatre, and specialised memorial children’s ward reflect early 20th-C reforms in surgery, nursing, hygiene, & public health.

The Bermondsey and Rotherhithe War Memorial Children’s Ward, depicted in the final panel, was funded by local subscriptions after the First World War as a living memorial to residents who served, embodying the era’s belief that improved children’s care was a fitting tribute to wartime sacrifice. This leporello captures a rare blend of medical architecture, social history, and everyday hospital life: consultants gathering under the colonnade, nurses moving between beds, convalescent adults and children resting in orderly rows, and the dense, high-windowed wards that defined London hospital care before the NHS.

Together the images form a continuous visual tour through the grounds, wards, and staff of one of London’s great teaching hospitals during the interwar period.

Price: $175.00