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DOCTOR'S PRACTICAL MANUSCRIPT HANDBOOK
[MANUSCRIPT - MEDICAL]. Chirurgische Remedien.
WITH: Prijsen der Waeren.
WITH: [Notes and extracts from 5 published medical works].
[Amsterdam?], ca. 1682/85. 4to (20 x 15 cm). Manuscript in red and brown ink on paper, with lists of surgical instruments, recipes for medicines, suggested treatments for numerous illnesses, injuries and psychological problems, prices of ingredients, etc. Neatly laid out and written in a clear Dutch gothic hand. Contemporary sheepskin parchment.
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A practical Dutch handbook of medicine, including surgery (though not primarily surgical, as the title to part one might suggest), no doubt compiled by a practicing doctor, possibly the book's owner, whose name was once on the first endleaf (IJ[sbrandt?] ...). It provides a very detailed view of the day to day practice of medicine in the Dutch golden age, contrasting with the more theoretical textbooks of the time. The first and longest part, "Chirurgische Remedien" (Surgical Remedies) appears to be an original work by the writer, and covers not only surgery but also pharmacology. It includes lists of medicines and of surgical instruments, an explanation of apothecaries' symbols, a suggested inventory for a small apothecary shop, recipes for medicines, and treatments for numerous illnesses, injuries and other conditions, including lice, pimples, worms, deafness, poor vision, toothache and many others. The "Prijsen der Waeren" (Prices of Goods) gives alphabetical lists (under thirteen categorical headings) of about four hundred ingredients, with prices for nearly two hundred. This also appears to be an original contribution. The other five parts appear to be excerpts, sometimes with the writer's own notes or clarifications, of five published books, though we have been unable to identify one of the five. These parts therefore form a sort of doctor's commonplace book. The seven parts, all but the last preceded by a few blank leaves, and with an occasional blank page within the parts, are listed here with their manuscript drop-titles and with the number of written pages in parentheses (giving a total of 166 written pages).
Chirurgische remedien (46 pp.)
Practijcq der Medicijne (18 pp.)
Nederlandsche Apothekarie (at the end "Haec ex Blancardo") (15 pp.)
Prijsen der Waeren gevoeght bij de lijste der simpelen (14 pp.)
Aenteyckeningen en Verklaringen over den Pharmacopća Amstelredamensis ... (36 pp.)
Nieuw Apothekers Licht (15 pp.)
Nieuwe Medicijn Winckel (22 pp.)
For the five published works these titles do not transcribe the printed title-pages, and only one names an author, making it difficult to identify them. We think we have identified all except the "Practijcq der Medicijne" (Practice of Medicine), whose "eerste boeck" (first book) is summarized in eleven numbered sections. The first editions of the other four published works are:
Steven Blankaart, De Nieuwe Nederlantsche Apothekers Winckel (Amsterdam, 1678).
Pharmacopaea Amstelredamensis (Amsterdam, 1682).
Antonius de Heide, Nieu Ligt der Apotekers (Amsterdam 1682).
Petrus Nylandt, De Medicyn-Winckel (Amsterdam [1668]): our writer's use of the word "nieuwe" suggests he used a later edition, such as that published at Amsterdam ca. 1679, but we have seen no edition that uses the word "nieuw" on the title-page.
The author's list of fifteen surgical instruments has a note at the end, referring the reader to "het wapenhuys van Scultetus," clearly meaning one of the many editions of Johannes Schultes, Magazyn ofte Wapenhuys (Amsterdam, 1657, first published in Latin in 1655) with engraved illustrations.
The manuscript originally collated [A]-[Z]8, giving 184 leaves. Parts one to three are not paginated, but parts four to seven share a single series of page numbers (though in parts four and five only their first pages and one other page are numbered). These parts begin on pages 1, 33, 91 and 107. The section beginning on the numbered page 53 has a heading "Inlandsche Purgatien," but it appears to be part of the writer's commentary and notes on the Pharmacopća (page 55 includes instructions for the making and use of tobacco syrup as a purgative). After the manuscript was written, six blank leaves were removed from the middle of two quires.
The manuscript is written on several paper stocks, nearly all watermarked with a 7-point foolscap (with a diagonal row of 5 balls at the base of the cap) above "4" above 3 balls, mostly with no countermark. The general style matches foolscap watermarks from the period 1674 to 1685 (Heawood 1990, 2002, 2009-2011, 2018, 2020 and 2031, the last with countermark "ET," as in the last two quires of the present manuscript). This, combined with the fact that the writer cites no works first published later than 1682, suggests the manuscript was written in or soon after that year. The outer half of the first endleaf has been cut away, leaving only the first letter "IJ" of the name of an early owner and/or the author. The only common Dutch first name that begins with IJ (treated as a single letter in Dutch) is IJsbrandt. This name had been struck through and another (presumably of a later owner) written below it.
In very good condition. The binding is somewhat worn and soiled, and the back hinge has pulled loose from the bookblock. A fascinating window into the daily practice of medicine in seventeenth-century Holland.
