Visualising Bloodletting Knowledge in Early Modern England
Early modern London booksellers’ shelves were well stocked with a range of surgical print from anatomical treatises to general surgical manuals purporting to present the ‘whole art’ or ‘prooved practise’ of surgery. These offered instruction in a range of areas from anatomy to wound treatment to the use of instruments to recipes for drugs. The formation of the Company of Barber and Surgeons in 1540 coincided with a rapid period of development in vernacular instructional print and an active production period for practical surgical manuals. A homegrown push to create materials for the teaching of surgery outside or in addition to traditional master/apprentice training introduced new kinds of printed pedagogical materials. This talk examines two visual objects –– Thomas Geminus’ A table instructiue whan and how a man may cõnyngly let bloude (c. 1546) and Edward Edwards’ The analysis of chyrurgery (1637) – to explore how book producers adapted existing visual vocabulary and visualisation devices, usually associated with university learning, to convey practical surgical knowledge.
Date: 6 March 2023, 16:00 (Monday, 8th week, Hilary 2023)
Venue: Maison Française d’Oxford, 2-10 Norham Rd, Oxford OX2 6SE
Speaker: Elaine Leong (UCL)
Organising department: Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology
Part of: Oxford Centre for the History of Science Medicine & Technology (OCHSMT) Seminars and Events
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Belinda Clark