Aristotle’s Compleat Master-Piece had been banned in the United Kingdom for 200 years and it’s about to go under the hammer yet again- the auction hammer, that is.
An edition printed circa 1766 is expected to draw more than $645 at the Edinburgh auction house Lyon and Turnbull on January 16th.
The material- considered quite tame by today’s standards- was deemed rather rebellious for its time and was extremely popular, resulting in many printings and editions after first appearing in print sometime around 1680. It was believed to have served as a reference guide for amateur midwives and young married couples and presented some rather interesting ideas on sexual relationships and how to conceive, while also providing an intriguing dialogue about the changing social perspectives on sex- as when it encouraged both parties to enjoy the sex to improve the chances of conception.
The book contained little by way of saucy tales or erotic images, but it did contain some strange advice- such as instructing midwives to burn marigolds and blow the smoke inside a mother’s vagina to help extract the afterbirth. It also included some off the wall cautions about extramarital sex like a warning that if a child is conceived out of wedlock the baby could be born “all hairy” or that conjoined twins could result. The illustrations in the book are thought to be one of the main reasons for its forbidden status. One image depicts a baby in a womb and the woman’s torso has been cut open to show the fetus. Other images of hairy children or children with their mouths where their navels should be are found scattered throughout the text.
Despite the censorship of the work, there were, in fact, more editions of this work published in the 18th century than any other medical text. The book continued to thrive in a vibrant black market, remaining banned until 1961 at a time when British law officials were working to clear the law books of “old and useless laws” that no longer pertained to the modern era.
Contrary to the title being credited to the famous philosopher Aristotle, there is little resemblance to any of his work in the text and no proof that he had anything to do with its content whatsoever. That being said, no factual documentation exists of the actual author(s), either. One possibility is that by attributing it to Aristotle they were trying to make it sound more worthy than it might have been- the medieval equivalent of a commercial spin, if you will. Some pieces seem to resemble the work of 17th-century physician Nicholas Culpeper and 13th-century saint and thinker Albertus Magnus.
Whatever its origin, the impression that Aristotle’s Compleat Master-Piece has made on literary and sociological history is unmistakable.
For more information on the Banned Books Awareness and Reading for Knowledge project and the complete list of titles covered, please visit the official website at http://www.deepforestproductions.com/BBARK.html
Sources: The Guardian (UK), Huffington Post
© 2013 R. Wolf Baldassarro/Deep Forest Productions
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