412 pp / Paperback / ISBN 978-0-7727-2138-9 / July 2013 / $45.95
By François Rousset, Jean Liebault, Jacques Guillemeau, Jacques Duval, & Louis de Serres
Edited and translated by Valerie Worth-Stylianou
“These texts were written in the vernacular for a readership of physicians and surgeons but also of midwives and lay women. So they present important evidence that, contrary to stereotypes, women were the recipients of medical texts written specifically for them. More generally, these texts demonstrate a strong interest in women’s health, indicating that early modern physicians and surgeons had a new interest in the specificity of female anatomy and women’s diseases. The texts selected and translated in this volume allow the reader to access an important group of primary sources on issues related to women’s health, including childbirth and caesarean section, sterility, miscarriage, breastfeeding, etc. The selection of texts is well organized and coherent, the translation is accurate and fluent, and the texts are adequately annotated, so the book will be easily used by scholars and students, including undergraduates. It provides evidence of a new concern and attention for women’s health needs, which, most interestingly, often went hand-in-hand with the rejection of misogynist stereotypes and the challenging of conventional views of female subordination and inferiority.”
— Gianna Pomata
Professor of the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
To view an excerpt of this work, please click here (PDF).
General Introduction
François Rousset, New Treatise on Hysterotomotoky, or Childbirth by Cesarean (1581)
Jean Liebault, Three Books dealing with the Infirmities and Illnesses of Women (1582)
Jacques Guillemeau, On the Safe Delivery of Women (1609)
Jacques Duval, On Hermaphrodites, Deliveries of Women (1612)
Louis de Serres, Treatise on Sterility among Women (1625)
Glossaries; Bibliography; Index
Valerie Worth-Stylianou is Senior Tutor at Trinity College Oxford, and Professor of French at Oxford University. She has published extensively on translations and on women’s healthcare in early modern France.
Renaissance and Reformation, 40:1 (2017). Reviewed by Lisa Wynne Smith.
The Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies no longer sells or distributes books in “The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series.” Starting July 2015, volumes can be purchased by individuals and institutions from the Chicago Distribution Center. Contact CDC by email (orders@press.uchicago.edu), by fax (800-621-8476 or 773-702-7212), or by phone (800-621-2736 or 773-702-7000).
412 pp / Paperback / ISBN 978-0-7727-2138-9 / July 2013 / $45.95 (Price includes applicable taxes)
