October Surprise

Damien Ihrig
Curator, John Martin Rare Book Room

What do ghosts read? Booooooks, of course. (Thank you to my son, August, for that groaner.)
In the spirit of the season, happy October, friends! Although perhaps more well known as a month filled with ghouls, goblins, and dentists' nightmares, October is also host to National Midwifery Week. National Midwifery Week was created by the American College of Nurse-Midwives to celebrate and recognize midwives and midwife-led care. 

The John Martin Rare Book Room has a substantial collection of items related to midwifery and obstetrics, from small texts made for the home to large volumes with beautiful illustrations made for teaching. Some of the more interesting and beautiful flapbooks we have also involve pregnancy and birth. In honor of National Midwifery Week, we highlight an impressive little volume for the book of the month from an equally impressive 16th/17th century midwife, Louise Bourgeois Boursier. She was a force to be reckoned with and helped shape western midwifery practices. I think you will all agree, it is a 'boo'tiful book.

Ok, enough with the horrifying puns. Along with the book of the month, please see below for upcoming events of interest, including the first speaker in the new JMRBR speaker series. We plan to bring in many exciting speakers over the next year. Artist and Instructor, Vero Smith, will be our first speaker on Monday, November 16. I and some of my colleagues will be speaking about an interdisciplinary medicinal garden project next April. Stay tuned for more information!

Stay well and happy reading!

We are very excited to announce a new speaker series, The John Martin Rare Book Room Presents! Keep an eye out for an email with Zoom details sent closer to the day of the event.

November 16 at 6:30 PM (central) - The John Martin Rare Book Room Presents
Vero Smith and The Medical Arts: Teaching Art History through The John Martin Rare Book Room 
This presentation will investigate the art of science and the science of art through the lens of object-based pedagogy. Vero Rose Smith is an artist, curator, and educator. From 2016 to 2020, Smith served as a curator at the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art and designed an innovative collegiate-level curriculum in the visual arts for both the University of Iowa and Kirkwood Community College. Simultaneously, Smith co-created collaborative arts experiences for learners of all ages and academic backgrounds. Please join us for an exciting evening of art, science, and medicine!

November 11 at 7:00 PM (central) – Iowa Bibliophiles
Laura Michelson and Around the Library Table: An Evening with Luther Brewer and Leigh Hunt
Learn more about Luther Brewer, the Cedar Rapids printer who collected Huntiana in the 1920s and Leigh Hunt, the Romantic era English writer and critic best known as a friend to “the famous.” with former Special Collections Olson Graduate Assistant, Laura Michelson.

Book of the Month

LOUISE BOURGEOIS BOURSIER [also known as Louise Bourgeoise] (1563-1636) Obseruations diuerses sur la sterilité, perte de fruict, fœcondité, accouchements, et maladies des femmes, et enfants nouueaux naiz / amplement traictees et heureusement praticquees par L. Bourgeois, dite Boursier, sage femme de la Roine; œuure vtil et necessaire a toutes personnes. [Diverse Observations on Sterility, Miscarriage, Fertility, Childbirth, and Diseases of Women and Newborn Children. Discussed in Detail and Successfully Practiced by L. Bourgeois, called Boursier, Midwife to the Queen. A Work Useful and Necessary for All]. Printed by Chez A. Saugrain. 1609. 12 unnumbered pages, 120 pages, 4 unnumbered leaves. 18 cm tall. Engraved title and engraved portraits of Marie de Medici and of the author.

This month's book is a first edition of the first book on obstetrics published by a midwife. Louise Boursier was a scientist, practitioner, teacher, and author. She was a woman of many firsts. She was one of the first women to be trained at the school for midwives which was opened at the Hôtel Dieu. She was the midwife who attended Marie de Medici, the wife of Henri IV (Henry the Great of France), at the births of her six children. She was the “sworn midwife” to the city of Paris and in 1601 she officiated at the birth of the dauphin, later to be King Louis XIII of France. She was one of the pioneers of scientific midwifery and her Observations was the go-to pocket book of contemporary midwives.

Between 1609 and 1652, she wrote many books, mostly expanded volumes of this first edition. Among other techniques, she introduced premature labor in patients with a contracted pelvis or uterine hemorrhage. Her work set the stage for the training and practice of future midwives in many countries, including her own descendants. Although we do not have a copy, there is an English translation of the book attributed to Thomas Chamberlayn, titled The Compleat Midwifes Practice.

The binding for Observations is vellum pasted over thin boards. The vellum would have been a creamy white when first bound, but has aged into a warm beige. The book cover is also a nice example of yapp edges. These are extended parts of the binding cover that have been folded over the edges of the book to protect the text block. In this case, just a small amount of the cover material has been folded over to protect the fore edge. An abbreviated spine title has been gold stamped on a black strip of leather overlayed onto the vellum. There are three engraved illustrations in the book. The title page and portraits of Louise Boursier (above) and her patron, Marie de Medici. Her cap, collar, and cross help identify Louise as a royal midwife. Finally, damage from insects on the last few pages was at some point skillfully repaired.

Please contact me at damien-ihrig@uiowa.edu if you would like to arrange a time to view this item.