Louise Bourgeois - Observations diverses... - 1652-1653

Louise Bourgeois, known as La Boursier, was a pioneering French midwife and author whose works focused on women’s reproductive health and childbirth. Her Observations diverses discusses infertility, miscarriage, fertility, pregnancy, childbirth, and illnesses affecting women and newborn children. First published in the seventeenth century, the work reflects the practical medical knowledge of a professional midwife and is an important testimony to the history of obstetrics and women’s medicine in early modern France.

The volume also contains the Récit véritable de la naissance de Messeigneurs et dames les enfans de France, published in Paris by Henry Ruffin in 1652. This account concerns the births of the children of the French royal family, adding a courtly and historical dimension to the medical material. It is bound together with the Recueil des secrets de Louise Bourgeois, published by Jean Dehoury in 1653, a collection devoted to practical medical and therapeutic knowledge. Together, these three works illustrate the broad scope of Bourgeois’s expertise, combining obstetrical observation, accounts of royal childbirth, and practical remedies or “secrets.”

First part — Observations diverses: [20] + 158 + [6] pp.
Second part — Récit véritable de la naissance de Messeigneurs et dames les enfans de France: pp. 5–184 + [6], with its own title page; the Récit véritable itself occupies pp. 91–184. This agrees with the NLM catalogue, which identifies the Récit véritable in volume 2 at pp. [91]–149 in its copy, indicating some variation in pagination/copy description.
Third part — Recueil des secrets de Louise Bourgeois: [2] + 42 + [2] pp.

The books are bound in contemporary full vellum, with a plain spine whose title was added at a later date.

A nice and interesting collection.