Mary Harrison’s book of recipes. Women and household medicine in late 17th century

  1. Isabel de la Cruz Cabanillas 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Alcalá. España
Revista:
Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses
  1. Crespo, Begoña (ed. lit.)
  2. Hernández Pérez, María Beatriz (ed. lit.)

ISSN: 0211-5913

Ano de publicación: 2016

Título do exemplar: Women scientists, women travellers, women translators: Their language and their history

Número: 72

Páxinas: 79-95

Tipo: Artigo

Outras publicacións en: Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses

Resumo

The present article traces the history of manuscript production and transmission of medical knowledge practised in the household environment. To this end, a hitherto unexplored compilation of medical recipes by Mary Harrison in Glasgow University Library Manuscript Ferguson 61 was scrutinised. Her manuscript illustrates how early modern women’s medical writing was produced and circulated at the time it was written. The recipe compilation is to be seen as a dynamic artefact which expands with time. Likewise, the language and the structure of the medical recipes in her manuscript are explored in context to trace their development since Middle English times as a way to evidence similarities and variations with older and contemporary compilations.