Aristotle’s Masterpiece was the most popular book about women’s bodies, sex, pregnancy, and childbirth in Britain and America from its first appearance in 1684 up to at least the 1870s. More than 250 editions are known, but all are very rare, and the Library Company’s 55 editions amount to perhaps the largest collection in America.  

Aristotle’s Masterpiece was not written by Aristotle the ancient Greek philosopher; it was assembled from a number of popular medical works by an unknown writer. It is a bizarre assortment of superstition, folklore, and sex facts and fancies, all mixed in with the sort of common-sense medical advice that had been passed down by midwives for centuries. The text changed very little over the years, but it was often rearranged, as historian Mary Fissell has noted, like a reshuffled deck of cards. 

We love the ribbon-embossed cloth binding and simple gold-blocked title on our copy of this 1830 edition of Aristotle’s Masterpiece. #PublishersBindingThursday

Read more about Aristotle’s Masterpiece here.

Aristotle’s Master-piece. [United States?] G. Davis. 1830.

Chief of Cataloging Contemplating “Aristotles”

Because of its detailed discussion of human reproduction, Aristotle’s Masterpiece became the most popular English-language sex manual from its first appearance in 1684 to the mid-19th century. The text in German translation skipped the bogus reference to Aristotle entirely, titling the book Kurzgefasstes Weiber-Büchlein (“Short little book for wives”). Even after the appearance of other works by sex educators such as Frederick Hollick (1818-1900) and Edward B. Foote (1829-1906), publishers occasionally issued new editions of Aristotle’s Masterpiece.

A while back we wrote with pride about our 55 editions of Aristotle’s Masterpiece. This month we received a gift of 75 more copies from historian of medicine Charles Rosenberg. Many of our new copies may differ in major or minor ways from copies from the 55 editions already in our collection. As Mary Fissell of the University of Maryland has noted, printers shuffled the contents “like a deck of cards.” So Chief of Cataloging Holly Phelps and her staff will be contemplating our “Aristotles” rigorously in the months ahead to create records that will help 21st-century readers locate them.