1534 ELYOT, Sir Thomas (1490 – 1546)
The castel of helth gathered and made by Syr Thomas Elyot knyghte, out of the chiefe authors of physyke, wherby euery manne may knowe the state of his owne body, the preseruatio[n] of helthe, and how to instructe welle his physytion in syckenes that he be not deceyued.
A few copies are dated 1534, but by internal evidence they cannot be dated before 1536. The next printing was in 1539. Digital text from Old English Books Online at this link.
GMN 12223 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14435
1722 MANDEVILLE, Bernard de (1670 – 1733)
A treatise of the hypochondriack and hysterick passions.
Probably the first psychiatric self-help book. Hunter and Macalpine call Mandeville's work "the first book on minor mental maladies `writ by way of Information to Patients' rather than `to teach other Practitioners' .…
GMN 10703 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12896
1835 HODGKIN, Thomas (1798 – 1866)
Lectures on the means of promoting and preserving health, delivered at the Mechanics' Institute.
Lectures for "working men" and women on preventative medicine and self-help. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 12204 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14414
1876 STALLARD, Joshua Harrison
Female health and hygiene on the Pacific Coast.
This was probably the first book on female health and hygiene published in California and intended for the residents of the state. The book was written for women rather than for medical professionals. Little is known …
GMN 12089 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14298
1935 CULLIS, Winfred Clara (1875 – 1956)
Your body and its health.
Cullis was the first woman professor in a British medical school, appointed in 1919 as professor physiology at the University of London. By the time this book was published Cullis was the Sophia Jex-Blake Professor of…
GMN 12227 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14439
1946 SPOCK, Benjamin McLane (1993 – 1998)
The common sense book of baby and child care.
One of the best-selling books of the twentieth century, selling 500,000 copies in the six months after its initial publication in 1946, and 50 million by the time of Spock's death in 1998. As of 2011, the book had bee…
GMN 11819 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14021
