Description

A 15th-century Middle English pamphlet has been bound into this manuscript, an alphabetised handbook of medical definitions, descriptions of diseases, and remedies written by John Wotton, MD, in the late 16th century. Originally an independent work, the pamphet’s main text is a gynaecological treatise, illustrated with several pages of diagrams showing the different positions of the foetus in the womb (ff. 196v-197v). Wotton’s annotations appear throughout the text, including brief marginal comments in Latin and corrections to the English spelling. In one instance, for example, he changes Middle English moder to mother.