“The climate, though hot and dry, is healthy, and one of the best in the country… The hospital arrangements, the dispensary, materials for dressings and disinfection, and sanitary service are in excellent order and leave nothing to wish for.”
Report on camp for convalescents at Shwebo (Burma) by Red Cross delegates, April 18th 1917, within Reports on British Prison-Camps in India and Burma [SPEC S/D525 (P.C. 205)]
In keeping with World Health Day on the 7th of April, we have selected a range of printed material from Special Collections that provides advice on health and wellness, from the 17th century to the 20th century.
The Treasury of Hidden Secrets
How would a 17th century English housewife monitor the health of herself and her family? Homemade remedies made from flora were popular, as shown in the below pamphlet (1653). For instance, wormwood was (and still is) used frequently to settle illnesses of the stomach.
SPEC Knows.pamph 458 (15)
SPEC Knows.pamph 458 (15)
Among the elites and aspiring middling sorts of the 18th century, taking the waters at Bath was considered an excellent method of promoting one’s good health. The physician George Cheyne published his work, An Essay on the Gout, With an Account of Nature and Qualities of The Bath Waters (second edition) in 1720. Despite suffering from gout and obesity himself, Dr Cheyne promoted vegetarianism and treated famous patients such as Samuel Richardson and Alexander Pope.
SPEC Knows.pamph 221
SPEC Knows.pamph 221
Home Gymnastics for the Well and the Sick
In the later 19th century the popularity of German-influenced “physical culture” led to emphasis on gymnastics in the USA and England. As part of this general trend, Home Gymnastics of the Well and the Sick (1889) promoted exercises that were simple, without specialist apparatus, for people of varied ages.
SPEC Children EVIII:257
Instructions on how to dad dance – SPEC Children EVIII:257
As always, the items featured in this post are available to view in the Special Collections and Archives reading room. Please see our website for more information.
Three notable acquisitions in Special Collections and Archives in March, alongside “The horses’s levee” mentioned in the blog post of last week.
“The old cobbler of the cottage: to which is added The idler” are two stories by female authors, Isabelle de Montolieu and Mary Martha Sherwood for children. The item is an excellent addition to our children’s literature collections and also to the number of Sherwood items already available within the collections.
SPEC 2017.a.002
The item is bound in a publisher issued embossed cloth binding with a paper label to the upper board, it also bears the provenance marks of Adriana Lacy and her Aunt, Sarah Lacy.
The embossed cloth binding.
Signed by the Lacy family.
The second item new to SCA this month is “The history of the Fairchild Family” by the ubiquitous Mrs Sherwood. This 1818 volume, bound in tree calf, was in print for nearly a century in numerous editions. It uses the format of the novel to explain the concept of original sin to a juvenile audience.
An introduction to original sin for young children, not recommended for the small people in your life!
The final new acquisition is “The trial of Harry Hardheart: for ingratitude and cruelty to certain individuals of the brute creation”. This item, dated approximately 1820, seeks to caution young people about the dangers of cruelty to animals.
The trial of Harry Hardheart
The item, which is in the original publisher issued blue paper covered boards, is recorded in only 8 locations worldwide.
Remember: be kind to elephants.
As ever, these items are now available for consultation in SCA, for information on how to make an appointment please see our webpages.
“It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great and peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars”.
The Challenge Accepted: President Wilson’s Address to Congress, April 2nd, 1917, p. 8 [SPEC S/D525 (P.C. 253)].
A new acquisition to Special Collections and Archives highlights the importance of William Roscoe to the social and cultural history of Liverpool. Roscoe, known as a leading abolitionist and historian, is perhaps as well known for his poem “The butterfly’s ball and the grasshopper’s feast” which was written for his children and published in 1807. Here in SCA we hold a copy of the 1808 edition. “Butterfly’s ball” was unusual for this period of juvenile literature as instead of seeking to contribute to the moral education of children it sought only to entertain and amuse.
JUV.508:3
In yellow paper wrappers, a common feature of this publisher, John Harris.
A hand coloured plate from the Butterfly’s Ball.
SPEC G8.15
As well as “Butterfly’s ball” SCA includes several items with Roscoe provenance including a 1683 volume bearing his signature and a 1551 Dante thought to have belonged to him.
SPEC H23.26
The new addition to the collections is “The horse’s levee, or, The court of Pegasus“. The title-page states that this rare edition (only 10 copies are recorded) is a companion to “The butterfly’s ball” rather than directly authored by Roscoe, but this perhaps highlights his influence on juvenile literature in this period.
SPEC 2016.t1.03
The yellow wrappers of the publisher John Harris.
“The horse’s levee” is an early astronomy primer for children, the plates show animals with their astronomical parallels and the verses instruct and amuse.
A party we would all like to be at.
“The delegates are of the opinion that the British are to-day treating their prisoners as if they were to be their friends in the more or less near future. The care lavished upon their welfare… conforms with the principles of humanity and civilisation and does honour to the British race.”
Reports on British Prison-Camps in India and Burma, visited by the International Red Cross Committee in February, March, and April 1917 (London: T. Fisher Unwin Ltd, 1917), p. 17 [SPEC S/D525 (P.C. 205)].
Special Collections & Archives has been a key contributor in “Using Primary Sources”, a newly launched Open Access teaching and study resource that combines archival and early printed source materials with high quality peer-reviewed chapters by leading academics.
Edited by Dr Jonathan Hogg, Senior Lecturer in Twentieth Century History at the University of Liverpool, with over 30 academics contributing, this project is a collaboration between Liverpool University Press, the University of Liverpool Library and JISC, and is available for free on the BiblioBoard platform.
Special Collections & Archives has provided images for several chapters across the Medieval, Early Modern and Modern anthologies. Dr Martin Heale’s chapter on Popular Religion features high resolution images from some of SC&A’s illuminated medieval manuscript treasures, including the Dance of Death scene in MS.F.2.14, a French Book of Hours from the late 15th century. Death is represented as a rotting corpse, followed by a procession of a pope, an emperor and a cardinal. The depiction is intended to have a moral message: a reminder the end is the same for all, regardless of their wealth or status. The accompanying chapter provides the context for the interpretation of such primary sources, so as to better understand attitudes to popular religion during this period.
Dance of Death, Book of Hours (Use of Chalons), LUL MS F.2.14 f82r
Both the Cunard archive and the Rathbone papers feature in Dr Graeme Milne’s chapter on Business History, whilst items from our children’s literature collections have been selected for Dr Chris Pearson’s chapter on the Environment. Some of these items are also used in teaching classes, where students have the opportunity to see and interpret the volumes for themselves.
A. Johnston, Animals of the Countryside, 1941. Oldham 485
Title page of A. White, The instructive picture book, 1866 JUV.550.2
From the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament ephemera collected by Science Fiction author John Brunner to a 14th century English Book of Hours, “Using Primary Sources” is both a valuable showcase for SC&A’s collections, and an important open access resource for students.
The textbook can be accessed via the Library catalogue, or directly from: https://library.biblioboard.com/module/usingprimarysources.
You can read more about the project on the Liverpool University Press website, as well as an interview with editor Dr Jon Hogg.
Follow “Using Primary Sources” on Twitter @LivUniSources to find out when new themes are added to the e-textbook. Forthcoming chapters for launch in 2017 include Science & Medicine, Gender and Political Culture.
“Our armies, if they are to conquer, must not only be supported by all the material power of their peoples; they must also have the consciousness of all the unknown virtues, all the inflexible hopes, all the fervent prayers of the grown men, of the aged, of the women, and of the children who are behind them”.
Emile Cammaerts, To the Men Behind the Armies: An Address delivered on February 18, 1917, as the Aeolian Hall, at a meeting of the Fight for Right Movement [S/D525 (P.C 208)].
“We may judge the naval prospects of the year 1917 from the events which have occured at sea since the outbreak of hostilities in August, 1914… With every month that passes the Allies’ command of sea will be reinforced by new units and by the strength which comes from sea-keeping”.
Archibald Hurd, Naval Prospects in 1917, pp. 2, 11 [SPEC S/D525 (P.C. 273)].
“The history of Austro-Serbian relations is the record of a prolonged struggle between the forces of autocracy and democracy, oppression and freedom…. The real “Provocation by Serbia” was a praise worthy yearning after the blessings of a free and independant exsistence”.
(In reference to the ‘German Note to Neutral Powers relative to the Entente Reply to the Peace Proposals, January 11, 1917’)
Crawfurd Price, The Dawn of Armageddon, or “The Provocation by Serbia” (vide German Note to Neutrals, Jan 11, 1917), pp. 3, 67 [S/D525 (P.C 13)].
