Items

Title

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: 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

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Hoffman home remedies collection : manuscript, circa 1775-1850
Description: This manuscript contains approximately 45 medical receipts on 88 pages (about half are blank). Includes remedies for piles, wens, warts, burns, fever, croup, rheumatism, and gravel, among others. Some remedies are accompanied by prayers. The manuscript is in predominately one hand, possibly that of Susanna Weinbrech Hoffmann (1742-1803) or Lydia Henkel Hoffman. The only confirmed hand in the book is that of William Hoffman (1809-1886), Lydia's son, on the last page of the book.
Subjects (LC): Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Traditional medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Manuscripts, American -- 18th century, Manuscripts, American -- 19th century, Manuscripts, American -- 19th century, German Americans -- Maryland

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: 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

Apicius [De re culinaria Libri I-IX]

Description

This manuscript contains 500 Greek and Roman recipes from the fourth and fifth century, both culinary and medical, reflecting the polyglot culture of the Mediterranean basin. Sometimes referred to as the oldest extant cookbook in the West, the manuscript is divided into ten books. It is likely that the Apicius began as a Greek collection, mainly written in Latin, and adapted for a Roman palate. The collection is likely compiled from many sources, as no evidence exists that Apicius (a Roman gourmet in 1st century AD), authored a book of cookery. Our manuscript was penned in several hands in a mix of Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian scripts at the monastery at Fulda (Germany) around 830 AD. It is one of two manuscripts (the other at the Vatican) presumed to have been copied from a now lost common source. The Apicius manuscript is the gem of the Academy’s Margaret Barclay Wilson Collection of cookery, acquired in 1929.

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Subjects (LC)

Cookbooks, Cooking, Latin peoples, Cooking, Mediterranean, Cooking, Roman, Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medicine

Title: Nearly 50 Years the Favorite: Piso's Cure a Medicine for Coughs, Colds Etc.
Description: Trade card advertising Piso's Cure featuring a woman pulling a red-headed boy over a wooden fence by the back neck of his shirt. His hat is falling off, and he is barefooted. She is blond and is wearing a small, brown hat. There are fruit trees on the woman's side of the fence. The back is a blank template for a postcard.
Conditions Cured (LC): Cold (Disease), Cough
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Fruit Trees, Hats, Nature, Trees, Wooden Fences
ID: WH330
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Nearly 50 Years the Favorite: Piso's Cure a Medicine for Coughs Colds Etc.
Description: Trade card advertising Piso's Cure featuring a scene of two men constructing or deconstructing a wooden dock on the Allegheny River. A red-wheeled wheelbarrow on the bank holds wooden planks. There is an island in river that has a red-and-white house. There are forested hills on the farther shorelines. The back is a blank template for a postcard.
Conditions Cured (LC): Cold (Disease), Cough
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Carpenters, Carts And Carriages, Hats, Housing, Islands, Marshes, Nature, Trees, Water, Woodworkers
ID: WH329
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Parker's Ginger Tonic
Description: Trade card advertising Parker's Hair Balsam and Parker's Ginger Tonic featuring a formally-dressed man sitting in an armchair defending himself against devilish creatures with an oversized box of Parker's Ginger Tonic. On the creatures' wings are written various ailments the Tonic cures. There is a broken crutch by the man's feet. The back describes the ailments the Balsam and the Tonic cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Body Fluids, Cold (Disease), Cough, Dandruff, Diarrhea, Heartburn, Indigestion, Itching, Neuralgia, Rheumatism, Tuberculosis
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Costume, Crutches, Demonology, Devil, Domestic Space, Folklore, Men, Mythology
ID: WH318
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Vegetine: The Great Blood Purifier
Description: Trade card advertising Vegetine featuring two young children and a basket of animals. Within the basket are a lobster, who is pinching the left-most child's clothing, and a duck or goose. The right-most child is liftng the top off of the basket that contains the animals. The back has testimony from a satisfied customer.
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Animals, Baskets, Children, Children's Clothing, Children's Hats, Clothing And Dress, Costume, Ducks, Hats, Lobsters
ID: WH371
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound
Description: Trade card advertising Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, Lydia E. Pinkham's Liver Pills, Lydia E. Pinkham's Blood Purifier, and Lydia E. Pinkham's Sanative Wash featuring an image of a fisherman in a wooden boat on a body of water. In the background there is a large house with a smoking chimney, a bridge, a mountain, and some greenery. The image is framed by sprigs of pink flowers. The back lists the benefits of the items advertised.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Backache, Depression, Headache, Indigestion, Insomnia, Neurasthenia, Peptic Ulcer, Tumors
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bridges, Chimneys, Fishing, Flowers, Hats, Mountains, Nature, Smoke Plumes, Trees, Water, Water And Architecture
ID: WH187
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

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: N'aie pas peur, petite soeur! Elle ne nous attrapera pas! ... Nos 20 gouttes de véritable Fer Bravais nous ont donné de la force et de bonnes jambes
Description: Trade card advertising Fer Bravais featuring two children running away from a horned goat. The three figures are in a grassy field, and there are two containers at the goat's feet. The image is framed with a forest motif that includes autumnal leaves, acorns, and a lizard. The back lists the ailments Fer Bravais can cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Chlorosis, Fatigue, Influenza, Typhoid Fever
Subjects (LC): Acorns, Advertising—Medicine, Animals, Children, Children's Clothing, Clothing And Dress, Goats, Grasslands, Leaves, Lizards, Nature, Pails
ID: WH202
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound
Description: Trade card advertising Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, Lydia E. Pinkham's Liver Pills, Lydia E. Pinkham's Blood Purifier, and Lydia E. Pinkham's Sanative Wash featuring a square image of a sailboat and a steamboat. There is a crescent moon in the sky to to the left. The square image is framed by overlaid reeds, grasses, and a white flower. The back describes the ailments the items can cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Constipation, Depression, Headache, Indigestion, Insomnia, Neurasthenia
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Boats And Boating, Flowers, Nature, Ocean, Rocks, Sailboats, Steamboats, Water
ID: WH326
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title

Des aller furtrefflichsten, hoechsten und adelichsten Gschoepffs aller Creaturen

Description

Walther Hermann Ryff was a surgeon employed in Strassburg in the early 16th Century. One of the highlights of this text are the 42 hand-colored woodcuts in the text, compiled from a number of Renaissance sources. Depicted in the counterfeit style, the illustrations in this book would have implied eye witness knowledge and discovery. In this way, Ryff’s book asserted itself as a credible description of anatomy (though its illustrations were far from anatomically accurate). The text of this book relied on lectures in anatomy and physiology, compounded from other sources. His audience was the ‘gemeine,’ or common man, and its composition in German, rather than Latin, ensured it would have a wider audience. In this way, Ryff’s book would have been indispensable to new readers as a compilation of Renaissance knowledge about the body. The book also offers evidence about early printing history. The wood-blocks for this edition were reused for a set of broadsides before they were passed to a Parisian printer for new editions of Ryff’s work, and for a popular work on surgery. This illustrated the practice of passing wood-blocks from publisher to publisher, and shows how work published in one city continued to be published and disseminated in others

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Subjects (LC)

Anatomy, Anthropometry, Early works to 1800, Medical illustration, Medicine, Printing—History, Proportion (Art), Renaissance, Wood-engraving

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