Teaching Gynaecology in the late Renaissance

CASTRO, Rodrigo de. De universa muliebrium morborum medicina, novo & antehac nemine tentato ordine opus absolutissimum; et Studiosis omnibus utile, Medicis vero pernecessarium. Quarta editio auctior et emendatior. Hamburg, Zacharias Hertel, 1662. 2 parts in 1 volume. Quarto. (8)ff + 226pp text + (22)ff index; (2)ff + 1 folding table + 524pp + (22)ff. First title in red & black with allegorical engraving. Contemporary vellum over boards. Enlarged and corrected fourth edition of this influential work on gynaecology by the Portuguese Jewish physician Rodrigo de Castro (1546-1627) who fled from the Inquisition to become one of the earliest Jewish settlers in Hamburg. Friedenwald ('Jewish Luminaries in Medical History', pp 54-56) calls him "one of the foremost physicians in establishing gynaecology in the Renaissance period". The first part of this extensive work treats female anatomy, conception, obstetrics and breast-milk; the second part, describing female diseases, has a section on those of pregnant women. Lightly toned throughout owing to poor paper quality but a crisp, sound copy in its original state of preservation. Krivatsky 2289. Wellcome II, p 312. See Hirsch I, 681.…