plague

First edition of this guide to the treatment of the plague, which had ravaged France in 1668. Based on humoral medicine and miasma theory (the belief that diseases were caused by bad air or corrupt vapours). The author discusses how imbalances of the humours make the body susceptible to plague, recommends purification of air through fumigation, the use of plants and herbs, vinegar, and aromatic substances; maintaining bodily health through diet, temperance, and bloodletting. Among the various treatments Fournier lists various remedies and antidotes, including theriac (a compound medicine), cordials, and poultices intended to draw out pestilential poison, as well as bathing. He also advocates quarantine, isolation of the sick, disinfection of clothes and houses, and regulation of burial practices. Like many plague tracts of the era, it frames pestilence as both a medical and moral problem, urging repentance and prayer alongside physical remedies.

Included is a fine portrait of the author, master surgeon Denis Fournier (1613-1683) by Ganirel, a woodcut skull and skeleton (both evidently reused from medical treatises, being lettered for labelling) and three practical illustrations for the preparation of remedies (two showing vessels, another a bath). The book is dedicated to Charles Maurice Le Tellier, Archbishop of Rheims. The printer is the widow I. (J) Rebuffé, wife of Jacques Rebuffé (died 1663). She is not listed in the Répertoire d’imprimeurs/libraires (1500-1810) and L’Antiloimotechnie may be the only book to carry her imprint (at least in this formulation). Krivatsy/NLM 4236.