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: Fasciculo de medicina : collectorio universalissimo chiamado Fasciculo de medicina, extracto dalla achademia...[1522]
Description: The Arrivabeni published two editions in 1522, one in Latin and the second in Italian. This edition, in Italian, is likely the second edition published that year by the printers.
Subjects (LC): Human anatomy-Early works to 1800, Human anatomy-Atlases-Early works to 1800, Genitourinary organs-Early works to 1800, Generative organs-Early works to 1800, Plague-Early works to 1800, Phlebotomy-Early works to 1800, Materia medica-Early works to 1800, Medicine-Early works to 1800

Title: Fasciculus medicine ... tractans de anothomia et diversis infirmitatibus, et corporis humani...[1513]
Description: The eleventh edition of the Fasciculus, printed by Gregorio de Gregorii and featuring Latin Gothic type. The size of the printed page is much larger than in all other editions apart from 1491; as a consequence, the plates are less clipped by the binder (though the blocks themselves are abbreviated). Our copy lacks the frontispiece plate and the urinoscopic consultation plate.
Subjects (LC): Human anatomy-Atlases-Early works to 1800, Medicine-Atlases-Early works to 1800, Human anatomy-Early works to 1800, Genitourinary organs-Early works to 1800, Generative organs-Early works to 1800, Plague-Early works to 1800, Medicine-Early works to 1800, Human anatomy-Charts, diagrams, etc

Title: Fasciculus medicine : similitudo complexionum & elementorum. [1500]
Description: The sixth edition of the Fasciculus, and the fifth printed in Venice, also by the brothers Gregorii in Latin. The edition uses the same blocks as the 1495 edition, with some minor modifications of the plates. The edition adds a new treatise by Rhazes on children’s diseases. This is the only edition of our five with colored plates, and is bound with Savonarola's Practica medicinae.
Subjects (LC): Medicine-Early works to 1800, Medicine, Medieval, Human anatomy-Early works to 1800, Human anatomy-Charts, diagrams, etc, Surgery-Early works to 1800, Genitourinary organs-Early works to 1800, Generative organs-Early works to 1800, Plague-Early works to 1800

Title: Fasciculus medicine in quo continentur : videlicet. [1495]
Description: This is the fourth edition of the Fasciculus and the third printed in Venice (after 1491 and 1493 editions both also by the Brothers Gregorii). It was printed in Latin and reset in Gothic type. In this edition, the page is shorter by four lines, resulting in plates that are too large and in many cases, clipped by the binder. This is the earliest edition with a real title page. Our copy lacks the urinoscopic consultation plate and the plate showing the circle of urine glasses.
Subjects (LC): Medicine-Early works to 1800, Medicine, Medieval, Human anatomy-Early works to 1800, Human anatomy-Charts, diagrams, etc, Plague-Early works to 1800, Phlebotomy-Early works to 1800

Title

Feldtbuch der Wundartzney

Description

This manual for military surgeons first published in Strassburg in 1517 was only the second handbook on surgery to be published in Germany in the vernacular. It was reissued at least twelve times, with translations in Latin and Dutch. The Feldtbuch was written and compiled by Hans Gersdorff, an Alsatian army surgeon who had served in the Burgundian war. The book enumerates treatments for the injuries most common to soldiers, including gunshot wounds, loss of limbs, and leprosy. The woodcut illustrations, many by Johann Ulrich Wechtlin, are among the earliest European depictions of surgery. The gaze in these illustrations and throughout the text belongs to the surgeon. Little attention in the text or image is paid to the recovery or long-term rehabilitation of the patient; the focus is on the squarely on the surgical procedure itself. The last section of the book is devoted to three Latin-German glossaries on anatomy, pathology and the medicinal uses of herbs.

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Subjects (LC)

Anatomy, Early works to 1800, Herbs—Therapeutic use, Medicine, Medicine—History, Medical illustration, Medicine, Military—Study and teaching, Pathology, Surgery, Surgery—History, Surgery, Surgical instruments and apparatus, Wood-engraving, Wounds and Injuries—Surgery

Title

Historae Rerum Naturalium, Liber Sextus, Qui agit Quadrupedibus, & Serpentibus

Description

The Dutch West India Company occupied northeastern Brazil from 1624 to 1654. In 1638, the physician Willem Piso and astronomer Georg Markgraf arrived as part of Johann Maurits’s research staff, tasked with promoting scientific studies in Brazil. This section of the Historia naturalis Brasiliae was written by Piso's colleague, the astronomer Georg Markgraf. Markgraf wrote the last eight sections of the Historia naturalis Brasiliae, of which this is the sixth. These sections as a whole were devoted to the medical uses of plants; to fish, birds, insects, quadrupeds and reptiles; and to full descriptions of geographic regions and their inhabitants. Markgraf also describes the appearance, habits, and environment of each animal depicted.

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Subjects (LC)

Botanical illustration, Early works to 1800, Indians of Central America, Indigenous crops, Indigenous peoples—Ecology, Natural history—Brazil, Natural history illustration, Medical geography, Medicine, Zoological illustration, Zoology—Brazil, Zoology—Pre-Linnean works, Wood-engraving

$La methode curative des playes, et fractures de la teste humaine avec les pourtraits des instruments$

Title

La methode curative des playes, et fractures de la teste humaine avec les pourtraits des instruments

Description

Ambroise Paré is renowned as the father of modern surgery. In obstetrics, Paré pioneered a new way of turning an infant in the uterus. He also made significant advancements in the treatment of hernias, the fitting of artificial limbs and eyes, and devised a new instrument to reduce hemorrhage after amputation. As with much of his work, the Methode Curative was widely distributed and reached a large audience. Long considered a classic text on the treatment of head wounds, this book contains 74 woodcuts, many hand-colored and adapted from the corpus of Vesalius. The first section, devoted to the anatomy of the head, is illustrated with woodcuts. The anatomical engravings were modified from the woodcuts of Vesalius and completed by the talented Jean le Royer, King’s Printer. The second part of the book details the treatment of head wounds, skull fractures and diseases of the face. Included in this section are drawings of surgical instruments, many fashioned by Paré himself. The book contains the woodcut portrait by Jean Cousin, printed in an oval surrounded by Paré’s motto, “Labor improbus omnia vincit” (hard work conquers all). It is bound in limp vellum, with a gold-tooled vignette on the cover.

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Subjects (LC)

Anthropometry, Early works to 1800, General Surgery, Head—Anatomy, Head—Wounds and injuries, Medical illustration, Medicine, Surgery, Surgery—History, Surgical instruments and apparatus, Wood-engraving, Wounds and Injuries

Title: Queste sono le cose contenute in questo dignissimo Fasciculo di medicina vulgare :... [1509]
Description: The ninth edition of the Fasciculus, printed in Italian in Milan (all other editions featured here are Venetian). The edition was printed by Giovanni de Castellione at the expense of Giovanni de Legnano and his brothers. While both plates and texts are taken from the Venice, 1493 edition, the plates have been reversed and introduce a number of variations. The plate with the circle of urine glasses is colored to correspond to their textual descriptions.
Subjects (LC): Medicine-Early works to 1800, Human anatomy-Charts, diagrams, etc, Genitourinary organs-Early works to 1800, Generative organs-Early works to 1800, Plague-Early works to 1800

Title: Recipe book : manuscript, 1700s
Description: This manuscript consists of 113 medical receipts and 178 culinary recipes. The culinary and medical recipes are in different sections, written from opposite ends of the book, and both sections start with numbered indexes. The medical receipts include plasters, waters, salves, purges, and other preparations for the treatment of green sickness, burns, worms, palsy, dropsy, stones, women's complaints, and other ailments. Of the culinary recipes, approximately 100 are banqueting or dessert dishes and wines. Fruit preserving, sweet wines, puddings, pickled dishes, small breads, pancakes, and fritters are well represented. The remaining culinary recipes include dinner and supper dishes, beer, mead, possets, and caudles. Three hands are evident.
Subjects (LC): Cooking, English, Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions -- Early works to 1800, Traditional medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Cooking, English, Manuscripts, English -- 18th century

Title

Specimen Medicinae Sinicae

Description

The Specimen Medicinae Sinicae is the first illustrated book published on Chinese medicine in the West. It contains an overview of Chinese medical practices including acupuncture and meridian theories, semiology of the tongue, descriptions of Chinese pharmaceuticals and their uses, and an important translation of a Ming treatise on pulse diagnosis. The Specimen includes thirty engraved plates and woodcut illustrations in the text, depicting the Chinese doctrine of the pulse and the semiology of the tongue, along with eight tables showing the variations of the pulses. Explaining Chinese pulse theory to a European audience proved difficult. Insufficient description of the plates, which pictured figures with doubled lines running through the bodies, confused western audiences, who interpreted these representations as indication that the Chinese didn't know their anatomy. The publication of the Specimen Medicinae Sinicae did little to change the commonly-held belief that the Chinese were crackerjack diagnosticians, with a misguided idea of the body's interior. The tenets of Chinese medicine and diagnostics were also somewhat muddled in the minds of westerners. Nevertheless, the translation did much to introduce pulse lore, acupuncture, and new materia medica to a Western audience of medical practitioners eager to experiment.

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Subjects (LC)

Acupuncture—China, Anatomy, Chinese—History, Early works to 1800, Materia medica—China, Medicine, Medicine, Chinese, Medical illustration, Pulse—Measurement

Geographic Subject

China

Title

The byrth of Mankynde newly translated out of Laten into Englyshe

Description

The Byrth of Mankynde, published in 1540, is the oldest manual for midwives printed in the English language. It remained in use both as a guidebook for midwives and as a source for physicians in the practice of obstetrics throughout Europe for the next two hundred years. The 1540 Byrth was a translation from the Latin edition of De Partu Hominis of Eucharius Rösslin’s Rosengarten. Rösslin was charged with supervising the midwives of Frankfurt, and although this volume contains sound instruction on delivery procedures, it did not break new ground in the field of obstetrics. Instead, it makes available the teachings of the Roman physician Soranus, popularized by Moschion, author of a 6th century question – and –answer book for Roman midwives. Other influences include Galen, Hippocrates, Aetius, Magnus and others. The volume’s seventeen copper-engraved plates were among the first in England to be produced by a roller press. The first illustrates “the Womans Stwle,” or birth chair, a birth aid which had been in use at least since Soranus’ time. Sixteen additional plates depict “Byrth Figures” in various positions in utero. The babies in these images, who resemble children age three or four and not fetuses, float dreamily in light-bulb-shaped vessels.

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Subjects (LC)

Botanical illustration, Early works to 1800, Indians of Central America, Indigenous crops, Indigenous peoples—Ecology, Natural history—Brazil, Natural history illustration, Medical geography, Medicine, Zoological illustration, Zoology—Brazil, Zoology—Pre-Linnean works, Wood-engraving

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