Book of the Month

In this section, we showcase one item from our library each month that is of particular significance from an aesthetic, bibliographical or historical perspective.

Francisco Javier Puerto Sarmiento, Professor Emeritus of the History of Pharmacy at the University of Madrid and former director of the Pharmacy Museum in the Spanish capital, has been a key figure in our discipline for over 40 years. A prolific author, he has published over 600 books and articles; as a specialist in Renaissance science, particularly alchemical processes, he has worked on a wide range of subjects, and his *El mito de Panacea* is one of the finest and most useful works on the history of pharmacy and therapeutics; it deserves to be translated. Throughout his work, Javier Puerto seeks to go beyond mere facts to uncover underlying structures and concepts. This is particularly evident in the fine article he wrote for a volume published by our society, in which he discussed both Lavoisier’s chemistry and Linnaeus’s botany.

A member of the Royal Academy of Pharmacy in Madrid and the Royal Academy of History, Javier Puerto has also been a corresponding member of the Swiss Society for the History of Pharmacy for decades.

His students, colleagues and friends, under the direction of Antonio González Bueno, the current president of the International Academy of the History of Pharmacy, have contributed to a commemorative volume, *Donum amicitiae*, marking Javier Puerto’s 76th birthday and dedicated to one of the honouree’s passions: pharmaceutical advertising.

Drawing on contributions from more than twenty researchers – mostly Spanish, but also French, British and Swiss, including that of the president of our library, Professor François Ledermann – this volume offers a complex and vivid insight into a phenomenon of great significance for the study of our profession’s history.