Items

Title: A collection of choise receipts : manuscript, circa 1680-1700
Description: Late 17th-centrury English manuscript divided into two parts: "A Collection of Choise Receipts" and "A Book of Physical Receipts." The first part of the manuscript contains approximately 390 recipes on 254 numbered pages. Of the recipes in the first part approximately 204 are culinary and approximately 175 are for medicines, perfumes, sweet bags, cosmetics, and household cleaners. A large portion of the culinary recipes concern banqueting, particularly fruit preserving; wines, liqueurs, non-medicinal waters, and syrups; and cakes and biscuits. Dinner and supper recipes, such as puddings, meat, poultry, and fish, are also well represented. The second part contains approximately 781 medicinal recipes on 214 numbered pages. Various diseases and conditions such as ague, bleeding, consumption, colic, dropsy, fits, fever, plague, pox, and stone are mentioned. Both parts are followed by indexes. The entire manuscript is written in one very legible hand, possibly that of a professional scribe. The characters "J H" appear frequently in the first part of the manuscript. Many of the recipes are attributed, some to nobility.
Subjects (LC): Cooking, English -- Early works to 1800, Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions -- Early works to 1800, Traditional medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Manuscripts, English -- 17th century

Title

An Abstract of the Patent Granted by His Majesty King George…

Description

Patent medicines originated in England in the mid 17th century and were marketed with extravagant claims, offering cures for a host of maladies. Recommendations for dosage were vague, and ingredients (often including opium) were usually not specified. In 1726 Benjamin Okell was granted the royal patent for Dr. Bateman’s Pectoral Drops, a tincture of gambir (an astringent extract from an Asian plant) and opium. Advertisements published in the London Mercury as early as 1721 directed prospective customers to the warehouse and printing shop at Bow's Churchyard, where they could purchase the drops for one shilling. Our copy of the 1731 reprint by Peter Zenger is likely the first piece of medical printing in New York. Zenger, who would later become famous for printing seditious texts, was instrumental in establishing freedom of the press in America. The Academy has the only known copy. Bound with our copy of the abstract is a copy of A Short treatise of the virtues of Dr. Bateman's Pectoral Drops, also issued by Okell and his printing house partners. Here, Batemans efficacy as a treatment for numerous ailments are described in sections dedicated to each. The last section of the treatise offers testimonials from satisfied customers.

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Subjects (LC)

Advertising—Medicine, Early works to 1800, Fever, Medicine, Patent medicines, Rheumatism

Title: Approved receipts in physick : manuscript, circa 1650-1700
Description: Manuscript recipe book consisting of mostly medical formulas, as well as some culinary recipes and a few alchemical preparations. Predominately in two unidentified hands. There are approximately 480 medical recipes (467 numbered) and 21 culinary recipes. Includes remedies for sores, burns, wounds, ailments of the eyes, complexion, "greene sickness," colds, coughs, and more. Most of the recipes are unattributed, but there are a few exceptions, including a receipt for "Sr Walter Rawley's great cordiall". Culinary recipes include syrups, wines, meats, pickles, preserves, and waffles. The book was probably compiled in the second half of the 17th century.
Subjects (LC): Cooking, English, Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions -- Early works to 1800, Traditional medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Cooking, English, Manuscripts, English -- 17th century

Title

Aristotle’s Masterpiece, Or The Secrets of Generation displayed in all the parts thereof

Description

Published initially in 1684 and popular in both America and England for over two hundred years, this became the most widely reprinted medical book in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The contributions of the Masterpiece were not particularly scientific, but drew largely from Hippocrates, and Galen, as well as other classical and medieval writers. The source material came from two earlier books: Levinus Lemnius’s Secret Miracles of Nature, originally published in Latin in 1599, and The Complete Midwives Practice Enlarged (author unknown). Chapter headings include sections titled, “The Signs of Barrenness” “The Way of getting to a Boy or a Girl,” “How a Midwife Ought to be Qualified” and “A Word of Advice to both Sexes in the Act of Copulation.” The information this title offered on conception, pregnancy, and childbirth wasn’t particularly innovative; many seventeenth century discoveries in gynecology are absent from the text and replaced by Hippocratic pathology, or by superstition. The “Aristotle” of the title was pseudonymous, and likely evoked by the book’s author to give the tome scientific credibility. The book’s true author is unknown, though Culpepper and William Salmon, an English physician and author, are sometimes credited.

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Subjects (LC)

Abnormalities, Human, Conception, Early works to 1800, Gynecology, Medicine, Midwifery, Obstetrics, Reproduction, Sex instruction, Sexual behavior

Title: Blank Forms
Description: Blank forms include feeding instructions, case histories and vital statistics forms.

Title

Care of Magical Creatures

Description

J.K. Rowling’s series, much like sixteenth- and seventeenth-century natural histories, contains many beasts and mysterious creatures, ranging from the recognizable to the fantastic. During that time period, people relied on accounts of travelers and seafarers who documented the exotic creatures they encountered. Study up on these, and you’ll be able to list the differences between the basilisk (a mythical reptile) and your garden-variety snake.

Disclaimer: This exhibition is not licensed or endorsed by Warner Bros. or J.K. Rowling.

Title: Cookbook : manuscript, circa 1700s and 180
Description: Manuscript containing mostly culinary recipes from the 18th and 19th centuries. The bulk of the recipes are from the early 18th century and written in two hands. Most concern fruit preserving (23 recipes) and fruit and flower wines (10 recipes). Other early 18th-century recipes include little cakes, stewed dishes, fried pasties, pickles and souses, a collar of beef, potted beef, other meat dishes, and a few medicinal receipts. Three later recipes are also found; one is from the late 18th century or later, and the other two are copied from Eliza Acton's Modern Cooking for Private Families, published in 1846.
Subjects (LC): Cooking, English, Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Traditional medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Manuscripts, English -- 18th century, Manuscripts, English -- 19th century

Title

Defense Against the Dark Arts

Description

Harry’s scar serves as a constant reminder that it is a dangerous world out there, with powerful wizards capable of great destruction. Familiarize yourself with these Defense-Against-the-Dark-Arts protections, and you’ll feel a little more confident about facing He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named…or at least develop some strategies for making it through class unscathed.

Disclaimer: This exhibition is not licensed or endorsed by Warner Bros. or J.K. Rowling.

Title

Divination

Description

Advanced wizards eager to answer the question “Where do you see yourself in ten years?” may enjoy reading up on the fundamentals of divination, devoted to strategies for forecasting the future. In case you’re wondering if J.K. Rowling’s centaurs had a monopoly on the art, early modern natural philosophers like Robert Fludd were very much engaged in questions related to astrology and how the planets governed human outcomes.

Disclaimer: This exhibition is not licensed or endorsed by Warner Bros. or J.K. Rowling.

Title: Duncumb recipe book : autograph manuscript signed, 1791-1800s
Description: This manuscript consists of approximately 425 culinary recipes and 50 medical and household receipts, many attributed. About two-thirds of the recipes in the culinary section are savory and one-third sweet, many of the former stews and pickled dishes, most of the latter creams and jellies. The medicinal receipts include treatments for worms, coughs, bruises, pain, burns, and other ailments.
Subjects (LC): Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Traditional medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Cooking, English, Manuscripts, English -- 18th century, Manuscripts, English -- 19th century

Title: Educational Materials

Title

Engravings of the Arteries

Description

This early work by the Scottish anatomist Charles Bell was composed for medical students and aimed to offer accurately and simply-rendered illustrations of the arteries. It was used as a preparatory text for surgical study and practice. The ten engravings in this volume were hand-colored, and labelled with letters corresponding to explanatory descriptions of the arteries on the opposite page. Bell was an accomplished medical illustrator; the engravings were done by Thomas Medland after Bell’s drawings. For Bell, true anatomical understanding was aided in pairing accurate drawing with thorough description. Bell believed that a variety of bodies should be used as subjects, and that the artist must choose the most typical anatomical examples to copy accurately. Bell made important inroads in determining the sensory functions of the nervous system, and was an early advocate of the idea that different parts of the brain controlled different functions; his pioneering work on the brain and cranial nerves influenced the work of other important brain researchers for decades. Chief among his achievements are his very fine medical illustrations, unsurpassed in terms of efficiency of presentation and elegance. These are very much on display in this beautiful book.

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Subjects (LC)

Anatomy, Arteries, Arteries—Surgery, Atlases, Engraving, Medical illustration, Medicine, Nervous system, Surgery, Surgery—History

Title

Facendo Il Libro: The Making of Fasciculus Medicinae, an Early Printed Anatomy

Description

The collection includes five editions of the Fasciculus Medicinae printed between the years of 1495 and 1522. The Fasciculus medicinae—literally, the “little bundle of medicine”—is a small group of independently-authored medical treatises and illustrations first printed in 1491. Remarkable as one of the earliest illustrated medical books to be printed, the Fasciculus was reprinted in dozens of different editions and translated into the major European vernacular languages into the 1520s. The Fasciculus also serves as an important witness to a dynamic period of change, reflecting both medieval medical ideas and new advances spurred by the humanistic surge associated with the Renaissance. This is perhaps best illustrated by the inclusion of the first printed scene of human dissection, an indication of the growing importance of empirical investigations of the interior. The images attached to the Fasciculus are a blend of diagrams copied from medieval manuscripts alongside newer, narrative-based scenes demonstrating the modern taste for classical styles in figures and interiors.

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This digital collection was made possible by generous support from The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

Title: From Basilisks to Bezoars: The Surprising History of Harry Potter’s Magical World
Description: This collection celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the publication of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by showcasing rare books and objects dating back to the fifteenth century that reveal the history behind many of the creatures, plants and other magical elements that appear in the Harry Potter series—from mandrakes to basilisks to Nicholas Flamel and the philosopher’s stone itself. The collection is organized as a fictional study aid for Hogwarts students preparing for their important wizardry exams, the O.W.L.s, with content relating to seven Hogwarts courses.
Disclaimer: This exhibition is not licensed or endorsed by Warner Bros. or J.K. Rowling.

Title: Fundraising and Publicity

Title: Gemel book of recipes : autograph manuscript signed, circa 1660-1700
Description: This English manuscript contains approximately 91 culinary recipes, as well as a few household and medical recipes. Most of the recipes are for dishes commonly served at banquets, with approximately 55 of the 91 culinary recipes being fruit preserves and similar conceits.
Subjects (LC): Manuscripts, English -- 17th century, Cooking, English

Title

Herbology

Description

The Academy Library’s collection is particularly strong in early herbals, especially medical botany. In the fifteenth century, printers often used the same woodblocks to illustrate a wide range of plants; a century later, plants are illustrated with much greater attention to detail and accuracy.

Disclaimer: This exhibition is not licensed or endorsed by Warner Bros. or J.K. Rowling.

Title

Here biginneth the inventorie or the collectorye in cirurgicale parte of medicene compiled and complete in the yere of oure Lord

Description

An illuminated and illustrated manuscript of the Chirurgia magna, or great surgery, by Guy de Chauliac. Attempting in the Chirurgia to collect the best medical ideas of his time, he compiled sources from Arabic and Greek writers, including Rhazes, Avicenna, Hippocrates, Aristotle and others. Guy wrote the first text of the Chirurgia in Latin at Montpellier, in approximately 1363. This text was published in many editions and remained the authoritative text on surgery through the seventeenth century. It consists of 181 pages of English black letter in double columns and lines lightly ruled in red. It is ornately illuminated in gold and silver with finely decorated floral borders and large floriated initials, heightened with gold leaf. The manuscript includes 24 drawings of surgical instruments. The calf binding dates to Henry VIII’s reign or to the Elizabethan era. The original brass and leather clasps are engraved with stars and lion heads. There has been dispute about the manuscript’s date, with authorities dating it between the late 14th and second half of the 15th century. The manuscript was sold with the Streeter collection to the New York Academy of Medicine in 1928.

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Subjects (LC)

Early works to 1800, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Manuscripts, Medical illustration, Medicine, Medicine—History, Medicine, Medieval, Surgery—History, Surgical instruments and apparatus

Title

History of Magic

Description

The Academy Library’s card catalog, in service since the late nineteenth century, has a drawer devoted to witchcraft. Witches were pursued in earnest in Europe for centuries, culminating in the witch trials of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The historical record offers many accounts of occult practices and witch-hunting manuals.

Attention to magical tricks-of-the-trade, over time, will serve you well in your studies, and may prove to have practical applications.

Disclaimer: This exhibition is not licensed or endorsed by Warner Bros. or J.K. Rowling.

Title: Hoffman cook book : manuscript, circa 1835-1870
Description: This manuscript contains approximately 200 recipes. The first and largest section of the manuscript consists of German recipes reminiscent of recipes now identified with the "Pennsylvania Dutch" and other ethnically German communities in the Mid-Atlantic and near Midwest, as well as some American recipes. German recipes include boiled cheese, warm cucumber salad, noodles with sour gravy, fried sauerkraut; American recipes include pound cakes, pot pie dough, pumpkin pie, and ketchup. This section was initially attributed to Susanna Weinbrech Hoffmann (1742-1803), but the recipes suggest a later date, post-1835 and pre-1870, and consequently a different author. The following section contains recipes, mostly for desserts (cakes, pies, puddings, etc.), in a different hand. These were most likely written by Lydia A. Hoffman Smyser around 1865. Two other recipes are also present and believed to be in the hand of Mary E. F. Hoffman. These recipes are followed by six medicinal receipts in the hand of the main body of the manuscript.
Subjects (LC): Cooking, American, German Americans -- Maryland, Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Traditional medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Manuscripts, American -- 19th century

LIBRARY DIGITAL COLLECTIONS & EXHIBITS

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