In 1946, the Wellcome Historical Medical Library, appointed him as their librarian.[1] In 1957, he became the first editor of the journal Medical History, a role he continued until his death in 1961, when he was succeeded by Poynter.[3][4] He retired in 1951 but continued to contribute as librarian of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.[1] In 1959 he was elected to honorary membership of the Royal Society of Medicine.[1]
In 1951, with his friend Frederick Noël Lawrence Poynter, he published a study of a sometime physician to Oliver Cromwell titled A Seventeenth Century Doctor and his Patients: John Symcotts, 1592?–1662.[5] The book was described as particularly welcome for dealing with the type of everyday medical practice of a merciful but "not very exalted" physician for whom there had previously been no memorial.[6]
He wrote Notable Names in Medicine and Surgery (1944) and The Early History of Surgery (1960), contributed to the Dictionary of National Biography, was involved in a project pertaining to Florence Nightingale and planned a compilation titled Dictionary of British Medical Biography.[1]
Bishop died unexpectedly on 27 July 1961 at the age of 57.[1] His address at the time of his death was 69 Anne Boleyns Walk, Cheam, Surrey.[7] He received an obituary from John Fulton in the British Medical Journal who compared him to Charles Singer as "prime fosterers of medico-historical studies in England".[2] He left an estate of £10,202, administration of which was granted to Joan Margaret Bishop, spinster, and John Clive Bishop, estate agent.[7] His bio-bibliography of Florence Nightingale and calendar of her letters were completed after his death by Sue Goldie.[1][8]
- Notable Names in Medicine and Surgery. 1944. (2nd edition 1946, 3rd edition 1959)
- Medicine and Science in Postage Stamps. Harvey & Blythe, 1948. (With Norman Murdoch Matheson)
- A Seventeenth Century Doctor and his Patients: John Symcotts, 1592?–1662. John Symcotts, Streatley, 1951. (Edited with F.N.L. Poynter)
- Catalogue of the Library up to 1850. Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Manchester, 1956. (Compiler)
- Bibliography of International Congresses of Medical Sciences = Bibliographie des congrès internationaux des sciences médicales. Blackwell, Oxford, 1958. (Compiler)
- The Early History of Surgery. Hale, London, 1960. (Reissued as Knife, Fire and Boiling Oil: The Early History of Surgery, 2010)
- A Bio-bibliography of Florence Nightingale. Dawsons for The International Council of Nurses, London, 1962. (Completed by Sue Goldie)