Lot 2156 email save

Birth of Mankinde, obstetrics by E. Roeslin 1598

Title: The birth of Mankinde, otherwise named The Vvoman's Booke. Set foorth in English by Thomas Raynalde…and by him corrected, and augmented…
Author: Roeslin, Eucharius
Description: [8], 204 pp. With 9 pages containing woodcut illustrations; woodcut initials. (4to) 7½x5¾, period limp vellum, new endpapers. Eighth Edition of this translation.Translation of Roeslin's Der swangern Frawen und hebammen Rosegarten, which, first published in 1513, the first book written especially for midwives in the vernacular because intended users were not conversant with Latin. The first translation into English was by Richard Jonas in 1540 who made a literal translation. Raynalde's translation first appeared in 1545 but provided a free translation with many original additions. "Raynalde borrowed freely from other authors and included several anatomical plates and descriptive text from Vesalius' Fabrica. Extremely popular, there were over ten subsequent editions of Raynalde's translation. English midwives and physicians were largely dependent on this book for guidance in the practice of obstetrics until the eighteenth century when Smellie and Junter published their scientific treaties." (Heirs of Hippocrates, p. 72.) Any copy of the Raynalde translation is scarce, but this is exceptional in being complete and in very good condition. (Garrison-Morrison 6139 [1540 ed.]; NLM 3911; STC 3911; Waller 8114 [1604 ed]; Wellcome I 5515).
Heading: Place Published: London
Publisher: Richarde Watkins
Date Published: 1598