The Birth of Mankind

’... (an) outstanding new edition...Copiously but unobtrusively annotated, and scrupulously presented, Hobby's edition does a marvellous service to scholarship. She provides a clear account of the book's complicated textual history... Thomas Raynalde was committed to bringing hidden knowledge to light, and to making abstruse arts accessible to general readers. Elaine Hobby's own achievements are similar.’ Times Literary Supplement ’The great merits of Elaine Hobby’s meticulous edition are that she not only unravels the details of the multiple authorship, sources and printings of Birth of Mankind but also leaves open so many interesting routes for future scholars to take. The footnotes giving current English equivalents for word or phrases, and examples where the book is clearly reusing earlier sources, allow the modern reader not only to understand the details of the language but also to explore the relationship between the book and its precursors. ...Those interested in book history, the reception of ancient medicine, sexuality, midwifery, recipes, language and childhood will find a wealth of possibilities in this important and timely edition.’ The British Society for Literature and Science ’The exhaustive volume of material Hobby has added to the book makes her edition of Raynalde’s The Birth of Mankind the definitive text for the modern reader. Furthermore, Hobby encourages her readers not just to enjoy Raynalde’s book passively, but to engage with its medical and philosophical notions by comparing it to the classical medical ideas formulated by the Greek Hippocratic corpus and the Galenic anatomy. She even recommends subject matter for future research. Overall, Hobby has transformed a neglected Early Modern curiosity into a notable work, which deserves its place alongside established Renaissance medical classics such as Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) and Jacques Ferrand’s A Treatise on Lovesickness (1623).’ Parergon '