Geoffrey de la Tour Landry, The Book of the Knight of the Tower, trans. Rebecca Barnhouse, The Book of the Knight of the Tower: Manners for Young Medieval Women, (New York, 2006), 79.
Geoffrey de la Tour Landry’s Livre pour l’enseignement de ses filles (Book for the Instruction of his Daughters) of 1371 was translated into English by William Caxton in 1484.
Image: Bodleian Library, MS Douce 204, f. 37. By permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.
Mariano di Jacopo Taccola, De ingeneis: Liber primus leonis, liber secundus draconis, addenda; Books I and II, On Engines, and Addenda, ed. and trans. Giustina Scaglia, Frank D. Prager, and Ulrich Montag, 2 vols. (Wiesbaden, 1984), 46. (Translation slightly adapted.)
The technological treatises of the Sienese engineer Mariano Taccola exist only in manuscript versions.
Image: British Library, Royal MS 14 E IV, f. 276r. © The British Library Board.
Aristotle’s Legacy: or, His Golden Cabinet of Secrets Opened (London, 1699), 18.
One of many texts which sought legitimacy by name-dropping the philosopher, this fortune-telling manual was first printed around 1690.
Image: The Jovial Marriner (1670-82[?]). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
John H. Young, Our Deportment, Or the Manners, Conduct and Dress of the Most Refined Society (Detroit, 1881), 48.
Image: Routledges Ball Room Guide (1866?). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Thomas Lupton, A Thousand Notable Things, of Sundry Sortes (London, 1579), 57.
Lupton’s miscellaneous compendium of remarkable anecdotes and thrifty tips, first published in 1579, was so popular that it continued to be published into the nineteenth century.
Image: Hans Holbein, Simolachri: Historie e figure de la morte (1549). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
The Trotula: A Medieval Compendium of Women’s Medicine, ed. and trans. Monica H. Green (Philadelphia, 2001), 97–9.
The collection of women’s medical knowledge known as the Trotula circulated in different versions in the Middle Ages; though a kernel of the text is associated with the female physician Trota of Salerno, the Trotula consists of three separate texts, which all came to be associated with a mythical figure named Trotula.
Image: British Library, Sloane MS 2435, f. 9v. © The British Library Board.
Christine de Pizan, A Medieval Woman’s Mirror of Honor. The Treasury of the City of Ladies, trans. Charity Cannon Willard, ed. Madeleine Pelner Cosman (New York, 1989), 168–70.
Christine de Pizan followed her famous Livre de la Cité des Dames (Book of the City of Ladies) with this instructional compendium for women, Le Trésor de la Cité des Dames, also in Middle French.
Image: Walters Art Museum, W.141, f. 28v. © Walters Art Museum, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license.
Olivier de la Marche, Mémoires, trans. Terence Scully, in Scully, Early French Cookery: Sources, History, Original Recipes and Modern Adaptations (Ann Arbor, 1995), 46.
The Mémoires of Olivier de la Marche, courtier, poet, and maître d’hôtel to Charles the Bold of Burgundy, cover the second half of the fifteenth century.
Image: Hans Sachs, Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auff Erden (1568). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
William Fiston, The Schoole of Good Manners: Or, a New Schoole of Vertue (London, 1595), C5r–v.
An early English imitaton of Erasmus’s De civilitate, based on a French paraphrase.
Image: Francesco Petrarca, De rebus memorandis, trans. Stefan Vigilius (1566). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Lucas Gracián Dantisco, Galateo Espagnol, or The Spanish Gallant, trans. W[illiam] S[tyle] (London, 1640), 9.
Dantisco’s Spanish adaptation of the Galateo was published in the 1590s and translated into English in 1640.
Image: David Deuchar, Man at a Table. Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
Thomas Gainsford, The Rich Cabinet… Whereunto is Annexed the Epitome of Good
Manners, Extracted from Mr. Iohn de la Casa, Arch-bishop of Beneventa (London, 1616), Z1r–v.
An English adaptation of Giovanni della Casa’s Galateo.
Image: Hendrick Goltzius, Portrait of a Man (1607). The J. Paul Getty Museum. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
Nicholas Morgan, The Horse-mans Honour, or, The Beautie of Horsemanship (London, 1620), 108–9.
Image: “A Dappled Gray Stallion Tethered in a Landscape” (c. 1584-7). The J. Paul Getty Museum. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
Everard Digby, De arte natandi, trans. Christopher Middleton, A Short Introduction for to Learne to Swimme (London, 1595), K2v.
Digby’s Latin swimming manual was published in 1587.
Image: Everard Digby, De arte natandi (1587). Courtesy of the John Work Garrett Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Aldobrandino of Siena, Le régime du corps de Maître Aldebrandin de Sienne, trans. Faith Wallis, in Medieval Medicine: A Reader (Toronto, 2010), 495–6.
Aldobrandino compiled his dietetic text in French for Countess Beatrice of Savoy, drawing on influential medical authors like Avicenna and Rhazes.
Image: Walters Art Museum, W.106, f. 18v. © Walters Art Museum, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license.
Albertus Magnus, De animalibus, trans. Kenneth F. Kitchell Jr. and Irven Michael Resnick, On Animals: A Medieval Summa Zoologica, 2 vols. (Baltimore, 1999), 1523.
St. Albert, German Dominican philosopher, theologian, and bishop, came to be known as the “universal doctor” thanks to the breadth of his intellectual inquiries.
Image: Bibliothèque nationale de France, NAL 3134, f. 80r.
Le Ménagier de Paris, trans. Gina L. Greco and Christine M. Rose, The Good Wife’s Guide: A Medieval Household Book (Ithaca, NY, 2009), 234.
Le Ménagier de Paris, composed in French in the voice of a husband instructing his young wife, contains tips on household management, along with 380 recipes.
Image: Morgan Library, MS M.1044, f. 44v. Gaston Phebus, Livre de la chasse, c. 1406–7. Bequest of Clara S. Peck, 1983. The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York/Art Resource, NY.
Albertus Magnus, De vegetabilibus libri VII, trans. Christopher Thacker, The History of Gardens (London, 1979), 84.
Image: The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig IX 8, f. 6r. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
Thomas Mace, Musick’s Monument; or, a Remembrancer of the Best Practical Musick (London, 1676), 62; 64.
Mace’s handbook contains introductions to both the lute and the viol.
Image: Hans Sachs, Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auff Erden (1568). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Le Ménagier de Paris, trans. Greco and Rose, 140.
See How to Care for Your Dog, c. 1393.
Image: St. Gallen, Kantonsbibliothek, Vadianische Sammlung, Ms. 343c, f. 72r.
Giambattista della Porta, Natural Magick: in XX Bookes by John Baptista Porta, a Neopolitaine (London, 1658), 331-2.
Della Porta’s Magia naturalis, first published in 1558, explains the miraculous phenomena of the natural world; this is the first English edition.
Image: Ulisse Aldrovandi, De piscibus (1638). Courtesy of the John Work Garrett Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Jacques Guillemeau, Child-birth or, the Happy Deliuerie of Women (London, 1612), 21.
Image: Francesco Petrarca, De rebus memorandis, trans. Stefan Vigilius (1566). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
The Ladies’ Book of Useful Information. Compiled from Many Sources (London, ON, 1896), 72.
Image: La légende de Béguinette (1903). Courtesy of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Andreas Capellanus, De amore, ed. and trans. P. G. Walsh, On Love (London, 1982), 47.
De amore (On Love) is the classic medieval explanation of the phenomenon of “courtly love.”
Image: British Library, Royal MS 14 E III, f. 146r. © The British Library Board.
Bartolomeo Platina, De honesta voluptate et valetudine, trans. Mary Ella Milham, Platina, On Right Pleasure and Good Health: A Critical Edition and Translation of De honesta voluptate et valetudine (Tempe, AZ, 1998), 119.
Bartolomeo Sacchi (known as Platina after his birthplace) began his career as a mercenary soldier and ended it as head librarian of the Vatican. He is the author of the first printed cookbook.
Image: Bartolomeo Scappi, Opera (1570). Courtesy of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Hieronymus Brunschwig, A Most Excellent and Perfecte Homish Apothecarye or Homely Physik Book, trans. John Hollybush [?](London, 1561), 18.
The first English translation of Hieronymus Brunschwig’s Thesaurus pauperum: Hauß Apotek, first published in 1507.
Image: Edward Topsell, The Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes (1675). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Tobias Venner, Via recta ad vitam longam, pars secunda (London, 1623), 27.
Image: Magnus Hundt, Antropologium de hominis dignitate (1501). Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
John Gough, The Academy of Complements (London, 1663), 92–6.
First published in 1639.
Image: Advice to the Ladies of London (1686–8?). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Francis Hawkins, Youths Behaviour, or, Decency in Conversation Amongst Men (London, 1646), 6.
Youths Behaviour, first published around 1640, is a translation of a French work, Bienséance de la conversation entre les hommes (1617), itself based on the Galateo.
Image: Desiderius Erasmus, Moriæ encomium, trans. White Kennett (1709). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Bartolomeo Scappi, Opera, trans. Terence Scully, The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi (1570): L’arte et Prudenza d’un Maestro Cuoco (Toronto, 2008), 179.
Bartolomeo Scappi was private chef to several popes and the author, in 1570, of one of the most influential cookbooks of Renaissance Italy.
Image: Conrad Gesner, Historiae animalium (1551). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Nicolas Lemery, Modern Curiosities of Art and Nature (London, 1685), 59–60.
First published in French in 1684.
Image: Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler (1665). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
A. T., A Rich Store-House or Treasury for the Diseased (London, 1596), 48.
Image: Francesco Petrarca, De rebus memorandis, trans. Stefan Vigilius (1566). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Pseudo-Pliny, trans. H. S. Versnel, “The Poetics of the Magical Charm: An Essay on the Power of Words,” in Paul Mirecki and Marvin Meyer, eds., Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World (Leiden, 2002), 119–20.
This advice appears in a ninth-century manuscript (St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek Cod. Sang. 751) as an addition to a late antique medical text.
Image: Burgerbibliothek Bern, Cod. 264, p. 79.
Hieronymus Brunschwig, A Most Excellent and Perfecte Homish Apothecarye or Homely Physik Book, trans. Hollybush, 4.
See How to Clean Your Teeth, 1561.
Image: Hans Sachs, Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auff Erden (1568). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
William Langham, The Garden of Health (London, 1597), 356–7.
Image: Francesco Petrarca, De rebus memorandis, trans. Stefan Vigilius (1566). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Thomas Lupton, A Thousand Notable Things, 154–5.
See How to Avoid the Plague, 1579.
Image: Francesco Maria Guazzo, Compendium maleficarum (1626). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Constantinus Africanus, Viaticum, ed. and trans. Mary Frances Wack, Lovesickness in the Middle Ages: The Viaticum and Its Commentaries (Philadelphia, 1990), 191.
“Constantine the African” was born in North Africa and became a monk at Monte Cassino in southern Italy, where he translated important Arabic medical texts into Latin.
Image: Bodleian Library, MS Rawl. Q. b. 5, f. 162r. By permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.
Robert Boyle, Medicinal Experiments, or, a Collection of Choice and Safe Remedies (London, 1693), 175.
Boyle’s collection was first printed in 1688.
Image: P. Boone, Allegories of the Senses (1561). Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
William Sermon, A Friend to the Sick: or, the Honest English Mans Preservation (London, 1673), 80.
Image: Ortus sanitatis (1497). Courtesy of the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, Yale University.
Thomas Jeamson, Artificiall Embellishments, or Arts Best Directions (London, 1665), 71–4.
Image: John Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis (1653). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Maximilien Misson, A New Voyage to Italy (London, 1695), II.335.
Misson published accounts of several voyages, among them the Nouveau voyage d’Italie of 1691.
Image: Francesco Petrarca, De rebus memorandis, trans. Stefan Vigilius (1566). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Nicolas Lemery, Modern Curiosities of Art and Nature, 72.
See How to Cure Gas, 1685.
Image: Jean Baudoin, Les fables d’Esope (1649). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Charles Random de Berenger, Helps and Hints How to Protect Life and Property (London, 1835), 110.
Image: William Heath, “Do you care to have your bed warm’d sir?” (1828?) Courtesy of the Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.
The London Practice of Physic, 4th ed. (Dublin, 1779), 154.
The first edition was published in 1769.
Image: Thomas Rowlandson, “Transplanting of Teeth” (1790). Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
Domenico da Piacenza, De arte saltandi, ed. and trans. A. William Smith, Fifteenth-Century Dance and Music: Treatises and Music (Hillsdale, NY, 1995), 13. (Translation slightly adapted.)
The Italian dancing treatise of Domenico da Piacenza, dance master in Ferrara, is the earliest such text to survive.
Image: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Vindob. series nova 2644, f. 104r.
Bartolomeo Platina, De honesta voluptate et valetudine, trans. Milham, 119.
See How to Choose a Cook, 1474.
Image: Theodor Graminaeus, Beschreibung derer Fürstlicher Güligscher &c. Hochzeit (1587). The J. Paul Getty Museum. Courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
Thomas Lupton, A Thousand Notable Things, 10.
See How to Avoid the Plague, 1579.
Image: John Gerard, The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes (1633). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
John H. Young, Our Deportment, 334.
See How to Avoid an Acquaintance, 1881.
Image: The Daily Graphic (June 1879). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
John Wesley Hanson, Etiquette and Bicycling, for 1896 (Chicago, 1896), 366.
Image: Harper’s Bazaar 29, no. 11 (March 14, 1896). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Antonius Arena, Leges dansandi. In Antonius Arena, Provincialis de bragardissima villa de Soleriis, ad suos compagnones studiantes… (Lyon, 1538), ed. and trans. John Guthrie and Marino Zorzi, “Rules of Dancing,” Dance Research 4, no. 2 (1986): 3–53, at 28.
Antonius Arena (Antoine Arène) first published his macaronic Leges dansandi (Dancing Rules) in 1529 appended to his work Ad suos compagnones studiantes. The earthy advice on dance etiquette first appeared in subsequent editions in 1529 and 1531.
Image: Cesare Negri, Nuove inventioni di balli (1604). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Nicolas Faret, The Honest Man: or, the Art to Please in Court, trans. E. G. (London, 1632), 357–9.
A translation of Faret’s L’Honneste-Homme (1630).
Image: Cesare Ripa, Iconologia (1644). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Daniel of Beccles, Urbanus magnus, ed. Josiah Gilbart Smyly (Dublin, 1939), 80. (My translation.)
Urbanus magnus is a lengthy Latin poem of advice for a broad range of medieval situations.
Image: Cesare Ripa, Iconologia (1644). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Tobias Venner, Via recta ad vitam longam, 44–6.
See How to Clear Your Head, 1623.
Image: Giambattista della Porta, De humana physiognomia (1602). Courtesy of the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, Yale University.
Alessio Piemontese [Girolamo Ruscelli?], The Second Part of the Secretes of Maister Alexis of Piemont, trans. William Ward (London, 1563), 17.
The collection of secrets of “Alessio Piemontese” was the prototype and most popular example of its genre; published in 1555, it saw seventy editions in eight languages by 1600.
Image: John Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis (1653). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Francis Hawkins, Youths Behaviour, 34.
See How to Converse, 1646.
Image: Francesco Petrarca, De rebus memorandis, trans. Stefan Vigilius (1566). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
William Fiston, The Schoole of Good Manners, D1v.
See How to Behave in School, 1595.
Image: Francesco Petrarca, De rebus memorandis, trans. Stefan Vigilius (1566). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Mario Bettinus, Apiaria universae philosophiae mathematicae (Bologna, 1642), 30.
Image: Mario Bettinus, Apiaria universae philosophiae mathematicae (1642). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Tobias Venner, Via recta ad vitam longam, 21–2.
See How to Clear Your Head, 1623.
Image: Isaac Fuller, Iconologia (1709). Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
Desiderius Erasmus, De civilitate morum puerilium libellum (Basel, 1530), 17–8. (My translation.)
Erasmus’s De civilitate morum puerilium libellum (Handbook of Good Manners for Boys), first published in 1530, is one of the foundational European texts on civility.
Image: Cesare Negri, Nuove inventioni di balli (1604). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Thomas Jeamson, Artificiall Embellishments, 65–7.
See How to Cure Pimples, 1665.
Image: John Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis (1653). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education, ed. Ruth W. Grant and Nathan Tarcov (Indianapolis, 1996), 18.
Locke’s Thoughts Concerning Education originated as advice to a friend on child-rearing.
Image: Heinrich von Louffenberg, Artzneybuch (1546). Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
Li tre trattati di messer Mattia Giegher Bavaro di Mosburc (Padua, 1629), 10–12.
Li tre trattati of the German Mattia Giegher (Matthias Jäger), working in Padua, includes the first comprehensive printed instructions in the art of folding table linens.
Image: Li tre trattati (1629). The J. Paul Getty Museum. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
The Complete Vermin-Killer: A Valuable and Useful Companion for Families, in Town and Country, 4th ed. (London, 1777), 66.
Image: Joannes Jonstonus, Historiæ naturalis de piscibus et cetis (1649). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
William Sermon, The Ladies Companion, or the English Midwife (London, 1671), 13.
Image: Cesare Ripa, Iconologia (1644). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Georgius Agricola, De re metallica, trans. Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover, De re metallica libri XII (London, 1912), xxv; 6.
De re metallica (On Metals) of the German metallurgist Georg Bauer (Georgius Agricola) remained influential after its publication in 1556; the first English translation was published in 1912 by Lou Henry Hoover and Herbert Hoover, future U.S. president.
Image: Francesco Petrarca, De rebus memorandis, trans. Stefan Vigilius (1566). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Thomas Parkyns, Progymnasmata: The inn-play: or, Cornish-hugg wrestler, 3rd ed. (London, 1727), 58.
Image: Thomas Parkyns, Progymnasmata (1727). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Albertus Magnus, De animalibus, trans. Kitchell and Resnick, 1477.
See How to Care for Your Cat, c. 1260.
Image: The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig XV 3, f. 99r. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
Michele Savonarola, Ad mulieres ferrarienses de regimine pregnantium et noviter natorum usque ad septennium, ed. Luigi Belloni, Il trattato ginecologico-pediatrico in volgare (Milan, 1952), 121. (My translation.)
Michele Savonarola, grandfather of the visionary friar Girolamo Savonarola, was a celebrated physician and author of numerous medical treatises, including this book of medical advice for the women of Ferrara.
Image: British Library, Royal MS 15 E VI, f. 273r. © The British Library Board.
Johann Jacob Wecker, Eighteen Books of the Secrets of Art & Nature (London, 1660), 21–2.
An English translation of Wecker’s Latin compendium, De secretis libri XVIII, published in 1582.
Image: Hugh Plat, The Jewel House of Art and Nature (1653). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Alessio Piemontese [Girolamo Ruscelli?], The Second Part of the Secretes of Maister Alexis of Piemont, trans. Ward, 10.
See How to Dye Your Hair Green, 1563.
Image: John Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis (1653). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Traicté nouveau, intitulé, Bastiment des receptes: nouvellement traduict de Italien en langue Françoyse (Poitiers, 1544), B6v. (My translation.)
A French translation of the 1529 Italian household manual Dificio di Recetti.
Image: John Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis (1653). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Richard de Bury, Philobiblon, trans. E. C. Thomas (London, 1903), 105.
English bishop Richard de Bury was an early book collector whose Philobiblon (Love of Books) discusses the collection, care, and defense of books.
Image: Beinecke Library, Marston MS 67, f. 66r. Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Apuleii liber de medicaminibus herbarum, ed. and trans. George C. Druce, “The Elephant in Medieval Legend and Art,” Journal of the Royal Archaeological Institute 76 (1919), 46.
Image: Wellcome MS 573, f. 53v. Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
Nicolas de Bonnefons, The French Gardiner, trans. John Evelyn. 4th ed. (London, 1691), 108.
Evelyn’s translation of this popular French gardening manual was first published in 1658 (the original appeared in 1651).
Image: Elizabeth Blackwell, Herbarium Blackwellianum (1757). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Aristotle’s Master-piece Compleated (London, 1697), 16–17.
One of a number of texts which sought to legitimize their endeavors by mentioning Aristotle, this manual deals with gynecology and reproduction.
Image: Giambattista della Porta, De humana physiognomia (1602). Courtesy of the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, Yale University.
Albertus Magnus, De animalibus, trans. Kitchell and Resnick, 1460.
See How to Care for Your Cat, c. 1260.
Image: Walters Art Museum, W.102, f. 75v. © Walters Art Museum, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license.
Hannah Woolley, The Accomplish’d Ladies Delight in Preserving, Physick, Beautifying, and Cookery (London, 1686), 86.
First published in 1685.
Image: Hans von Gersdorff, Feldtbuch der Wundartzney (1530). Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
Antonius Arena, Leges dansandi, trans. Guthrie and Zorzi, 33–5. Translation slightly adapted.
See How to Dress for Dancing, 1538.
Image: Fabritio Caroso, Il ballarino (1581). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Alessio Piemontese [Girolamo Ruscelli?], The Second Part of the Secretes of Maister Alexis of Piemont, trans. Ward, 8–9.
See How to Dye Your Hair Green, 1563.
Image: Edward Topsell, The Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes (1675). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Constantinus Africanus, Constantini Liber de coitu, trans. Faith Wallis, Medieval Medicine: A Reader (Toronto, 2010), 520–22.
See How to Cure Lovesickness, eleventh century.
Image: The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS 100, f. 58r. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
Germanus, Oneirocriticon, trans. Steven M. Oberhelman, Dreambooks in Byzantium: Six Oneirocritica in Translation, with Commentary (Aldershot, 2008), 153–66.
The Oneirocriticon of Germanus, one in a long tradition of dream-interpretation manuals, is a Byzantine text from sometime between 900 and 1300.
Image: British Library, Harley MS 4867, f. 74v. © The British Library Board.
Leopold Berchtold, An Essay to Direct and Extend the Inquiries of Patriotic Travellers (London, 1789), 99; 187; 260; 320; 428.
Austrian traveler Leopold Berchtold offers both practical advice and an enormous collection of precise questions for the curious traveler.
Image: James Bretherton, “A Tour to Foreign Parts” (1778). Courtesy of the Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.
The Distaff Gospels: A First Modern Edition of Les Évangiles des Quenouilles, ed. and trans. Madeleine Jeay and Kathleen Garay (Peterborough, ON, and Orchard Park, NY, 2006), 237–9.
Les Evangiles des Quenouilles is a collection of late medieval women’s popular beliefs that uses women’s gatherings as a narrative framework.
Image: Beinecke Library, MS 404, f. 148r. Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Thomas Lupton, A Thousand Notable Things, 61.
See How to Avoid the Plague, 1579.
Image: Walters Art Museum, W.425, f. 12r. © Walters Art Museum, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license.
The Complete Vermin-Killer, 3–4.
See How to Garden with Lobsters, 1777.
Image: John Southall, A Treatise of Buggs (1730). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
R. W., A Necessary Family-Book (London, 1688), 33.
Image: Robert Hooke, Micrographia (1665). Courtesy of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
R. W., A Necessary Family-Book, 18.
See How to Kill Fleas, 1688.
Image: Jean Baudoin, Les fables d’Esope (1649). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
A Dictionary of Love, with Notes (London, 1777), s.v. “Kiss.”
Image: “The Honey-moon” (1777). Courtesy of the Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.
Pseudo-Hippocrates, Capsula eburnea, trans. Faith Wallis, Medieval Medicine: A Reader (Toronto, 2010), 44.
The Capsula eburnea (Ivory Casket), also known as Prognostica, appears to be a fifth- or sixth-century Latin version of a late Greek text on prognostications.
Image: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Med. Graec. 1, f. 312r.
Nicolas Lemery, Modern Curiosities of Art and Nature, 70.
See How to Cure Gas, 1685.
Image: Ulisse Aldrovandi, Monstrorum historia (1642). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
John White, A Rich Cabinet, with Variety of Inventions (London, 1658), 33.
White’s Rich Cabinet, the first in a series of collections of conceits, was first published in 1651.
Image: Edward Topsell, The Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes (1675). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Daniel of Beccles, Urbanus magnus, 51. (My translation.)
See How to Dress Your Child, c. 1200.
Image: The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig XIV 6, f. 27r. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
The Booke of Pretty Conceits, A2r.
See How to Sober Up, 1612.
Image: Francesco Maria Guazzo, Compendium maleficarum (1626). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Daniel of Beccles, Urbanus magnus, 92. (My translation.)
See How to Dress Your Child, c. 1200.
Image: Walters Art Museum, W.760, f. 173r. © Walters Art Museum, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license.
Amanieu de Sescás, Enssenhamen de l’escudier, trans. Mark. D. Johnston, “The Occitan Enssenhamen de l’escudier and Essenhamen de la donzela of Amanieu de Sescás,” in Mark D. Johnston, ed., Medieval Conduct Literature: An Anthology of Vernacular Guides to Behaviour for Youths, with English Translations (Toronto, 2009), 31–2.
Little is known about Amanieu de Sescás, who composed two poetic advice manuals, Enssenhamen de l’escudier (Instruction for a Squire) and Essenhamen de la donzela (Instruction for a Young Lady), in Old Occitan.
Image: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Vindob. series nova 2644, f. 105r.
Antonius Arena, Leges dansandi. (My translation.)
See How to Dress for Dancing, 1538.
Image: Cesare Negri, Nuove inventioni di balli (1604). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Marcus Graecus, Liber ignium ad comburendos hostes, ed. and trans. J. R. Partington, A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder (Baltimore, 1960), 46.
The Liber ignium ad comburendos hostes (Book of Fires for Burning Enemies) seems to have originated around the thirteenth century.
Image: British Library, Additional MS 42130, f. 171r. © The British Library Board.
Le Ménagier de Paris, trans. Greco and Rose, 310–11.
See How to Care for Your Dog, c. 1393.
Image: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Vindob. series nova 2644, f. 65v.
Philippe Sylvestre Dufour, The Manner of Making Coffee, Tea and Chocolate, trans. John Chamberlayn (London, 1685), 72.
Image: Jean de Laet, Histoire du nouveau monde (1640). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (London, 1774), 139–40.
The first edition was published in 1747.
Image: Charles Elmé Francatelli, The Modern Cook (1846). Courtesy of the Yale University Libraries.
A New Book of Knowledge (London, 1697), 3.
Image: Hans Sachs, Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auff Erden (1568). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Philippe Sylvestre Dufour, The Manner of Making Coffee, Tea and Chocolate, trans. Chamberlayn, 8–10.
See How to Make Chocolate, 1685.
Image: Philippe Sylvestre Dufour, The Manner of Making Coffee, Tea and Chocolate (1685). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
The Vivendier: A Critical Edition with English Translation, ed. and trans. Terence Scully (Devon, 1997), 83.
The Vivendier is a French recipe collection surviving in a single manuscript.
Image: British Library, Additional MS 42130, f. 207v. © The British Library Board.
Thomas Twyne, The Schoolemaster, or Teacher of Table Philosophie (London, 1576).
An adaptation of a medieval dietary manual, the Mensa philosophica.
Image: Girolamo Mercuriale, De arte gymnastica (1601). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
John White, A Rich Cabinet, 103–4.
See How to Know the Moon’s Phase, 1658.
Image: John White, A Rich Cabinet (1658). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook, or the Art and Mystery of Cookery (London, 1660), 162.
Image: Desiderius Erasmus, Moriæ encomium, trans. White Kennett (1709). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook, 427–8.
See How to Make French Toast, 1660.
Image: Michael Maier, Scrutinium chymicum (1687). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Robert Smith, Court Cookery: Or, the Compleat English Cook (London, 1725), 102.
First published in 1723.
Image: Albertus Seba, Locupletissimi rerum naturalium thesauri accurata descriptio (1734–65). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, 240.
See How to Make a Christmas Pie, 1774.
Image: The Compleat Housewife (1758). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
The Forme of Cury, trans. Constance B. Hieatt, The Culinary Recipes of Medieval England: An Epitome of Recipes from Extant Medieval English Culinary Manuscripts (London, 2013), 91.
The Forme of Cury (Forms of Cooking) is an important medieval cookbook, written in Middle English.
Image: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Vindob. series nova 2644, f. 60v.
The Forme of Cury, trans. Hieatt, 184.
See How to Make Macaroni and Cheese, c. 1390.
Image: The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig XIII 3, f. 2v. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
Mappae clavicula, ed. and trans. Cyril Stanley Smith and John G. Hawthorne,
“Mappae Clavicula: A Little Key to the World of Medieval Techniques,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society n.s. 64:4 (1974): 1–28, at 68.
The Mappae clavicula outlines techniques for a number of crafts. Some of its material dates to antiquity; it continued to receive accretions through the twelfth century.
Image: The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS 46, f. 71r. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
John White, A Rich Cabinet, 28.
See How to Know the Moon’s Phase, 1658.
Image: Hans Holbein, Simolachri: Historie e figure de la morte (1549). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Hendrik van Etten [Jean Leurechon?], Mathematicall Recreations (London, 1633), 66–8.
This work on mechanical marvels, drawing on Hero of Alexandria, was first published in French in 1624 (Récréations mathématiques); it has often been attributed to Jean Leurechon. This is the first English edition.
Image: René Descartes, Specimina philosophiae (1650). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Nicolas Lemery, Modern Curiosities of Art and Nature, 240–1.
See How to Cure Gas, 1685.
Image: Joachim Camerarius, Symbolorum et emblematum centuriæ quatuor (1677).
Richardus Salernitanus, Anatomia, ed. I. Schwarz, Die Medizinischen Handschriften der K. Universitätsbibliothek im Würzburg (Würzburg, 1907), 90. (My translation.)
The identity of this Richardus is not clear; the text may be a version of notes from twelfth-century medical teaching in Salerno.
Image: Walters Art Museum, W.51, f. 2r. © Walters Art Museum, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license.
Bartolomeo Scappi, Opera, trans. Scully, 228.
See How to Cook a Porcupine, 1570.
Image: Walters Art Museum, W.313, f. 34r. © Walters Art Museum, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license.
Alessio Piemontese [Girolamo Ruscelli?], The Second Part of the Secretes of Maister Alexis of Piemont, trans. Ward, 16.
See How to Dye Your Hair Green, 1563.
Image: John Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis (1653). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Piero de’ Crescenzi, Liber ruralium commodorum, trans. Robert G. Calkins, “Piero de’ Crescenzi and the Medieval Garden,” in Elisabeth B. MacDougall, ed., Medieval Gardens (Washington, D.C., 1986), 171.
Crescenzi’s Opus ruralium commodorum was one of the most important agricultural treatises of medieval Europe.
Image: Beinecke Library, MS 418, f. 45r. Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Thomas Lupton, A Thousand Notable Things, 2.
See How to Avoid the Plague, 1579.
Image: Desiderius Erasmus, Moriæ encomium, trans. White Kennett (1709). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
The Boke of Secretes of Albertus Magnus (London, 1560), C1v.
The medieval compilation of experimental magic known as the Secreta Alberti was attributed spuriously to Albertus Magnus, though perhaps assmbled in the thirteenth century by one of his followers.
Image: The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig XV 9, f. 43v. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
Lucas Gracián Dantisco, Galateo Espagnol, trans. W[illiam] S[tyle], 10.
See How to Belch Politely, 1640.
Image: John Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis (1653). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
William Schmidt, The Flowing Bowl: When and What to Drink (New York, 1892), 164.
Image: “The Pretty Barmaid” (c. 1825). Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
Thomas Hill, A Briefe and Pleasaunt Treatise, Entituled, Naturall and Artificiall Conclusions (London, 1581), G1v.
Hill’s “book of secrets” was first published in 1567 or 1568.
Image: Jean Baudoin, Les fables d’Esope (1649). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Santo Brasca, Viaggio in Terrasanta, ed. Anna Laura Momigliano Lepschy, Viaggio in Terrasanta di Santo Brasca 1480 (Milan, 1966), 128–9. (My translation.)
Viaggio in Terrasanta (Journey to the Holy Land) is a day-by-day account of the Milanese author’s pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the year 1480.
Image: The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig XIII 7, f. 120v. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
Giovanni della Casa, Il Galateo overo de’ costumi, trans. M. F. Rusnak, Galateo: Or, The Rules of Polite Behavior (Chicago, 2013), 20.
Archbishop Giovanni della Casa’s Galateo, first published posthumously in 1558, quickly became one of the most influential books on manners ever written; galateo is still a byword for good manners in Italian.
Image: Benito Arias Montano, Humanae salutis monumenta (1571). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Les Evangiles des Quenouilles, trans. Jeay and Garay, 119.
See How to Keep Your Cat, c. 1470.
Image: Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 6881, f. 30r.
Les Evangiles des Quenouilles, trans. Jeay and Garay, 129.
See How to Keep Your Cat, c. 1470.
Image: Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale, Rés. Inc. 58, f. 43r.
John Russell, Boke of Nurture, trans. Edith Rickert and L. J. Naylor, The Babees Book: Medieval Manners for the Young (Cambridge, ON, 2000), 34.
Little is known about John Russell; he describes himself as an usher, marshal, and servant to Duke Humphrey of Gloucester.
Image: Heidelberg University Library, Cod. Pal. Germ. 848, f. 46v.
Les Evangiles des Quenouilles, trans. Jeay and Garay, 211.
See How to Keep Your Cat, 1470.
Image: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Vindob. series nova 2644, f. 37r.
Hugh Plat, The Jewel House of Art and Nature (London, 1653), 59.
Image: Thomas Heywood, Philocothonista (1635). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
John Pechey, A General Treatise of the Diseases of Infants and Children Collected from the Best Practical Authors (London, 1697), 4–5.
Image: Richard Mead, A Mechanical Account of Poisons in Several Essays (1745). Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
Richard de Fournival, Consaus d’amours, trans. Norman R. Shapiro, The Comedy of Eros: Medieval French Guides to the Art of Love, 2nd ed. (Urbana, IL, 1997), 116.
Better known for his Bestiaire d’amour (Bestiary of Love), Richard de Fournival also composed an epistolary treatise on love.
Image: British Library, Stowe MS 17, f. 143r. © The British Library Board.
Mappae clavicula, trans. Smith and Hawthorne, 70.
See How to Make a Poisoned Arrow, twelfth century.
Image: The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig XIV 6, f. 126r. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
The Trotula, trans. Green, 109.
See How to Avoid Pregnancy, twelfth century.
Image: Morgan Library, MS G.24, f. 10r. Jacques de Longuyon, Les voeux du paon, c. 1350. Gift of the Trustees of the William S. Glazier Collection, 1984. The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York/Art Resource, NY.
Antonius Arena, Leges dansandi. (My translation.)
See How to Dress for Dancing, 1538.
Image: Cesare Negri, Nuove inventioni di balli (1604). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Daniel of Beccles, Urbanus magnus, 38–9. (My translation.)
See How to Dress Your Child, c. 1200.
Image: Bodleian Library, MS Bodl. 264 pt. 1, f. 56r. By permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.
Alessio Piemontese [Girolamo Ruscelli?], The Thyrde and Last Parte of the Secretes of the Reverende Maister Alexis of Piemont, trans. William Ward (London, 1562), 58.
See How to Dye Your Hair Green, 1563.
Image: Matthias de L’Obel, Kruydtboeck (1581). Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
Brunetto Latini, Il Tesoretto, ed. Julia Bolton Holloway, Il Tesoretto (The Little Treasure) (New York, 1981), 1803–18. (My translation.)
Brunetto Latini is best known as Dante’s mentor and for his appearance among the sodomites in Dante’s Inferno. Latini sought to summarize all of human knowledge in his Italian poem Tesoretto and French prose Li Livres dou Trésor.
Image: British Library, Stowe MS 17, f. 153v. © The British Library Board.
The Vivendier, trans. Scully, 81.
See How to Make a Cooked Bird Sing, c. 1450.
Image: Bodleian Library, MS Bodl. 264 pt. 1, f. 73v. By permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.
Michele Savonarola, Ad mulieres ferrarienses. (My translation.)
See How to Give Birth, c. 1450.
Image: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Vindob. series nova 2644, f. 85v.
Christoph Bernhard, Von der Singe-Kunst oder Manier, trans. Walter Hilse, “The Treatises of Christoph Bernhard,” The Music Forum III (1973), 25.
Bernhard’s advice on singing exists in a manuscript from around 1650.
Image: Hans Sachs, Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auff Erden (1568). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Desiderius Erasmus, De civilitate, 28. (My translation.)
See How to Fart, 1530.
Image: Girolamo Mercuriale, De arte gymnastica (1601). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Platina, De honesta voluptate et valetudine, trans. Milham, 111.
See How to Choose a Cook, 1474.
Image: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Vindob. series nova 2644, f. 101v.
Andrew Balfour, Letters Write [sic] to a Friend (Edinburgh, 1700), 111.
This set of letters from the physician, botanist, and traveler Andrew Balfour to Patrick Murray were published after Balfour’s death in 1694.
Image: Johann Theodor de Bry, India orientalis (1598). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Thomas Lupton, A Thousand Notable Things, 49.
See How to Avoid the Plague, 1579.
Image: John Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis (1653). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
The Booke of Pretty Conceits: Taken out of Latine, French, Dutch and English (London, 1628), A7v.
Image: Johann Dryander, Der gantzen Artzenei (1542). Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
Old English Herbarium, trans. Anne van Arsdall, Medieval Herbal Remedies: The Old English Herbarium and Anglo-Saxon Medicine (New York, 2002), 159.
A translation into Old English of a fourth- or fifth-century Latin compilation known as the Herbarium of Pseudo-Apuleius.
Image: Bodleian Library, MS Junius 11, p. 53. By permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.
Michele Savonarola, Ad mulieres ferrarienses. (My translation.)
See How to Give Birth, c. 1450.
Image: Bodleian Library, MS Douce 276, f. 118r. By permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.
Francis Hawkins, Youths Behaviour, 7.
See How to Converse, 1646.
Image: Richard Brathwaite, The English Gentleman (1630). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
John Harrington, The Englishmans Docter, or the School of Salerne (London, 1607), A8r.
A verse translation of the Regimen sanitatis Salernitanum.
Image: John Gerard, The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes (1633). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Marsilio Ficino, De vita libri tres, ed. and trans. Carol V. Kaske and John R. Clarke, Three Books on Life (Binghamton, NY, 1989), 197.
Marsilio Ficino, known for translating Plato into Latin, explored more esoteric interests in his Tres libri de vita (Three Books on Life) of 1489, including ways to harness positive influences from the stars.
Image: Abraham Bosse, “Anchora Inparo” (1538). Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
Cupids Master-piece, or, the Free-school of Witty and Delightful Complements (London, 1656).
Image: The Young-mans Unfortunate Destiny (1684–95?). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Donald Walker, Walker’s Manly Exercises: Containing Rowing, Sailing, Riding,
Driving, Hunting, Shooting, and Other Manly Sports, rev. ‘Craven’ (London, 1860), 86.
Image: Donald Walker, Walker’s Manly Exercises (1860). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Giovanni della Casa, Il Galateo overo de’ costumi, trans. Rusnak, 48–9.
See How to Party Like a Scholar, 1558.
Image: Paolo Veronese, Giuseppe da Porto and His Son Adriano. Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze. HIP/Art Resource, NY.]
Giovanni della Casa, Il Galateo overo de’ costumi, trans. Rusnak, 47.
See How to Party Like a Scholar, 1558.
Image: Wenceslaus Hollar, Portrait of Giovanni della Casa. Courtesy of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto.
Johannes de Mirfield, Breviarium Bartholomei, trans. Percival Horton-Smith Hartley and Harold Richard Aldridge, Johannes de Mirfeld of St. Bartholomew’s, Smithfield; His Life and Works (Cambridge, 1936), 69.
John of Mirfield was an eminent physician at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital (London); two copies of his practical medical compendium survive.
Image: The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig XIII 7, f. 159v. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
John White, A Rich Cabinet, 8.
See How to Know the Moon’s Phase, 1658.
Image: Pliny the Elder, Historia mundi naturalis (1582). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Jesse Haney, Haney’s Art of Training Animals (New York, 1809), 148–9.
Image: Dame Wiggins of Lee and Her Seven Wonderful Cats (1836). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Le Ménagier de Paris, trans. Greco and Rose, 237–8.
See How to Care for Your Dog, c. 1393.
Image: Morgan Library, MS M.144, f. 4r. Book of Hours, c. 1490. Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan before 1913. The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York/Art Resource, NY.
Salvatore de Renzi, Collectio Salernitana, vol. 5 (Naples, 1859), 21. (My translation.)
Image: British Library Royal 6 E VII, f. 197r. © The British Library Board.
Leipzig University statute, ed. Friedrich Zarncke, Die Statutenbücher der Universität Leipzig (Leipzig, 1861), 102, trans. Robert Francis Seybolt, The Manuale Scholarium: An Original Account of Life in the Mediaeval University (Cambridge, MA, 1921), 21–2, n. 6. (Translation slightly adapted.)
Image: Laurentius de Voltolina, “The Classroom of Henricus de Alemannia,” c. 1360–90. bpk, Berlin/Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen, Berlin/Joerg P. Anders/Art Resource, NY.
Melchisédech Thévenot, The Art of Swimming. Illustrated by Forty Proper Copper-Plate Cuts, Which Represent the Different Postures Necessary to be Used in that Art. With Advice for Bathing, 3rd ed. (London, 1789), 47–8.
Thévenot’s L’Art de Nager, first published in 1696, was a French version of Everard Digby’s Latin manual De arte natandi (1587), translated from French to English in 1699 and still dispensing good advice about aquatic grooming in 1789.
Image: Melchisédech Thévenot, The Art of Swimming (1789). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Daniel of Beccles, Urbanus magnus, 64. (My translation.)
See How to Dress Your Child, c. 1200.
Image: Walters Art Museum, W.106, f. 15r. © Walters Art Museum, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license.
Anthimus, De obseruatione ciborum, ed. and trans. Mark Grant (Totnes, 1996), 57.
De obseruatione ciborum (On the Observance of Foods) is the work of a Byzantine physician at the court of Theodoric the Great.
Image: The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS 100, f. 26v. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
Joseph Miller, Botanicum officinale: or a Compendious Herbal (London, 1722), 67–8.
Image: Elizabeth Blackwell, Herbarium Blackwellianum (1757). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Nicolas Lemery, Modern Curiosities of Art and Nature, 26.
See How to Cure Gas, 1685.
Image: Conrad Gesner, Historiae animalium (1551). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Thomas Hill, A Briefe and Pleasaunt Treatise, Entituled, Naturall and Artificiall Conclusions, C5r.
See How to Mouse-Proof Your Cheese, 1649.
Image: Thomas Hill, Naturall and Artificiall Conclusions (1649). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Thomas Dawkes, The Nurse’s Guide: or, Short and Safer Rules for the Management of Women (London, 1744), 35–6.
Image: Aristotle’s Works Compleated (1733). Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
The Trotula, trans. Green,171.
See How to Avoid Pregnancy, twelfth century.
Image: The J. Paul Getty Museum, MS 100, f. 58r. Image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
William Vaughan, Approved Directions for Health (London, 1612), 71.
First published in 1600.
Image: Girolamo Mercuriale, De arte gymnastica (1601). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Mortimer Delano de Lannoy, Simplex Munditiis. Gentlemen (New York, 1891), 55.
Image: The Underwear and Hosiery Review 1, no. 4 (February, 1918). Courtesy of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
Fabritio Caroso, Nobiltà di dame, ed. and trans. Julia Sutton, Courtly Dance of the Renaissance: A New Translation and Edition of the Nobiltà di Dame (1600) (New York, 1995), 141.
The dance master Fabritio Caroso da Sermoneta first published Il Ballarino in 1584; Nobiltà di dame is a revision.
Image: John Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis (1653). Courtesy of the George Peabody Library, The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University
Hannah Woolley, The Accomplish’d Ladies Delight, 95.
See How to Heal All Wounds, 1686.
Image: Hans Sachs, Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auff Erden (1568). Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Albertus Magnus, De animalibus, trans. Kitchell and Resnick, 1520.
See How to Care for Your Cat, c. 1260.
Image: British Library, Royal MS 6 E VI, f. 128v. © The British Library Board.