An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

RÖSSLIN, Eucharius [RHODION; ROESSLIN]

3 entries
  • 6138

Der Swangern Frauwen und Hebammen Rosegarten.

Strassburg, Austria: Martin Flach, 1513.

The earliest printed textbook for midwives. It underwent over 100 editions, being used as late as 1730. The first edition was published in Strassburg by Martin Flach in 1513. This was demonstrated most recently by Lawrence I. Longo in his entry on Rösslin's work in Haskell Norman's One hundred books famous in medicine (1995) No. 13. Based upon the research of Benzing, Longo also described and illustrated two undated issues of Rösslin's work which previously had been assigned to 1513. Because it was thought for a long time that three issues appeared the same year, there was some confusion among bibliographers as to which, if any, could be shown to be first. However, Benzing convincingly assigned one of the undated issues to circa 1515 and the other to circa 1518. Georg Klein, Eucharius Rösslin's 'Rosengarten' gedruckt im Jahre 1513 reprinted in facsimile (Munich, 1910) the undated edition, now assigned to circa 1515 issued in Hagenau by Heinrich Gran. This was titled Der Swangern frawen und hebammē rosengartē. Klein also issued "Zur Bio-und Bibliographie Rösslins und seines 'Rosengartens', Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin 3 (1910). The third variant, now assigned to 1518, was issued in Cologne by Arnt von Aich, but with the title Der swangeren Frawen und Hebammen Rosegarten.

Other studies include Sir D’Arcy Power’s article in The Library, 1927, 4 ser. 8, 1-37, subsequently reprinted in book form, and A.M. Hellman, A collection of early obstetrical books… including 25 editions of Roesslin’s Rosengarten (New Haven: Privately printed, 1952). In 1956 Josef Benzing of Mainz published "Zu den ersten Ausgaben des 'Rosengartens' von Eucharius Rösslin," Das Antiquariat, Wien, 12, Nr.5/6, 57-58. This remains the best critical analysis of the three earliest editions of Rösslin in German.

For the background to Rösslin's book see Monica H. Green, "The sources of Eucharius Rösslin's 'Rosegarden for pregnant women and midwives (1513)", Medical History, 53, 167-192, available from PubMedCentral at this link.

 



Subjects: OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY › OBSTETRICS
  • 12764

De partu hominis, et quae circa ipsum accidunt.

Frankfurt am Main: Christian Egenolff, 1532.

Eucharius Rösslin the Younger translated his father's Der schwangeren Frauwen und Hebammen Rosengarten (1513) into Latin, from which it is was translated into French, Dutch, and English, and was frequently reprinted.  Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY › OBSTETRICS › Obstetrics
  • 6139

The byrth of mankynde.

London: T. R., 1540.

The first English treatise on midwifery, translated by Richard Jonas from the 1532 Latin translation by Roesslin the Younger (De partu hominis) of Roesslin's work (1513). The 1540 English edition was illustrated with two sheets, printed on both sides, of crudely engraved "birth fygures" copied from Roesslin's woodcuts. These also appear, with minor changes "Stoole" for "Stwle") in the second edition of 1545. The second edition  was edited by the physician, Thomas Raynalde, who intended to augment it with a section on anatomy and illustrations of the female reproductive organs, but his intentions were not fully realized. Copies of the 1545 edition contain two engraved representations of the male trunk, possibly engraved on a one plate, printed on a single sheet, folded and stitched in the quire. They are engraved on a different plate, but correspond with the first and second figures on plate 30 of Germinus (1545), except that fig. 1 is reversed. Hind, Engraving in England pp. 44, 53-55. Hook & Norman, The Haskell F. Norman Library of Science & Medicine (1991) No. 1844, with more extensive discussion of the 1545 edition. These engravings, and those in Geminus's anatomy, are the earliest engravings published in England.



Subjects: Illustration, Biomedical, OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY › OBSTETRICS, OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY › OBSTETRICS › Midwives