XO35 Aristotle's Master-Piece Improved. In Four Parts

Aristotle’s Master-Piece Improved, in Four Parts (London: Printed, and sold by the Booksellers, [early 18th century])

Penn Libraries, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, B468.4 1700

In this “Improved” edition of the Master-piece, the frontispiece now includes Aristotle in the act of writing about the hairy woman and the Black child, as they reveal themselves to him in his study. It is now broken up into four parts, on marriage, monsters, conception, followed by directions to midwives, and claims to be “adapted to the meanest capacities.” The addition of a table of contents makes it easy to find information in this little volume. Finally, it contains a woodcut depicting a woman's figure, illustrating the dissection of the womb as it would appear during late pregnancy, providing visual information that would be useful for understanding the internal workings of the human body.