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December 20, 2004

Filling doctors' orders | A Hollis couple specialize in online sales of antique medical books

By Sean Donahue
Few of us will ever need an illustrated copy of an 1885 clinical manual detailing diseases of the tongue ˆ— nor, for that matter, would most of us even want to flip through it. But for certain medical professionals, academics or book collectors, the quest for that book or tens of thousands of other rare medical titles would lead to a big red barn in Hollis.

Inside that barn, carefully organized on bookshelves or still packed into boxes, is the 75,000-volume collection of John and Bonnie Fossett, founders and owners of UHR Books. With the help of some lucky purchases and the rise of online bookselling, the Fossetts have turned their book-collecting hobby into an operation that's now one of the country's largest sources of antique, rare or out-of-print books covering medicine, nursing and public health.

Though about a third of the collection deals with non-medical topics ˆ— particularly in the areas of history and biography ˆ— UHR's online catalog is filled with titles that might scare off the squeamish or entice medical rubberneckers, such as a 1913 account of health conditions in the Panama Canal Zone (not good, we suspect). Yet the Fossetts don't find their niche overly morbid. "It's such a fascinating science," says Bonnie Fossett. "If you're looking at [a book] from 1920 about a disease that there was no cure for then, but that is totally curable nowˆ… the science has evolved so much that you can really appreciate it by seeing what it used to be."

That fascination makes sense, given that both John, age 53, and Bonnie, age 52, come from medical backgrounds: He once worked as a public health officer, and she still works three days a week as a psychiatric nurse. In the mid-80s, the Fossetts decided to combine their skills and start their first business, a medical seminar and consulting business called United Health Resources. As that business grew, John also began collecting old books related to public health, historical epidemics and the like. Eventually, the hobby began to seem more like a habit. "I remember distinctly the day I bought a $200 book," says John Fossett. "[Bonnie] looked at me and said, 'John, where is this going?'"

At that point, in the mid-90s, the Fossetts decided to start a small, catalog-only bookselling operation alongside their seminar business (thus the name UHR Books). Thanks to the Internet, they were able to gradually grow that operation and build a reputation as experts in books on nursing, which was their original specialty. Their library ˆ— and the business ˆ— took a giant step forward in late 2001, when they heard that an elderly doctor and avid book collector was selling his 50,000-title library. The Fossetts had purchased nursing books from him in the past, and knew they had a rare opportunity to own an amazing collection. "Within 30 minutes of finding out it was for sale, we bought the collection," says John.

To house all those books, the Fossetts had to build a 24- x 48-foot barn. Today, that purchase forms the backbone of their collection, which contains titles that would impress even the non-medical crowd. UHR's rarest item is an illustrated 1801 tome on smallpox vaccination techniques by vaccine pioneer Edward Jenner. Another rare item is a biography of a British general in the Crimean War signed by nursing legend Florence Nightingale.

The Jenner and Nightingale books will set you back about $3,000 and $2,000, respectively, but UHR's prices range all the way down to a few dollars for old medical pamphlets and other small items. Though the Fossetts decline to talk about UHR's revenues, they say they're "making a living" by selling 150 to 200 books a month.

Their customers, not surprisingly, are primarily medical professionals and academic researchers, often looking for rare books on specific subject (Bonnie says they sold an old pamphlet on inhalation anthrax almost immediately after news of the anthrax mail attacks broke in 2001). Other typical customers include book dealers and collectors, but the Fossetts say they're increasingly selling to people looking for a unique gift to give someone in a medical profession.

Thanks to their online store, UHR can reach those customers anywhere in the world. In fact, Bonnie estimates they've sold books to at least 40 different countries. Every morning, their business day starts by checking the computer for online orders, which they then retrieve from the barn, package and ship from a post office around the corner. Two visits to the post office a day is the norm.

With that system keeping them busy, the Fossetts aren't interested in letting idle browsers into the barn, though they occasionally accept visits from serious collectors or industry heavyweights. Recently, UHR allowed the visiting executive director of the New Zealand College of Surgeons to visit the barn.

In fact, the entire business has grown about as big as they would like it to be. Though the Fossetts remain opportunists when it comes to examining a retiring doctor's personal collection, they're not out actively looking for books these days. After all, they say, so far they've only entered 12,000 of their 75,000 books into their online catalog. "We have so many books now," says Bonnie, "that really it will take us five to 10 years before they're all cataloged even if we don't buy another book."

UHR Books

Hollis

Owners: John and Bonnie Fossett

Founded: 1993

Service: Online sales of antique, rare and out-of-print medical books

Employees: Two

Revenues: Did not disclose

Contact: 929-5100

www.abebooks.com/home/uhrbooks

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