Author: Bontekoe, Cornelis
Title: History of Food and Drink, History of Medicine, 1679 | Tractaat van het excellenste kruyd thee (...) benevens een kort discours op het leven, de siekte en de dood, mitsgaders op de medicijne van dese tijd. 2e druk, vermeerdert (...) I Van de coffi II Van de chocolate. Mitsgaders van een apologie van den autheur tegens sijne lasteraars. 's-Gravenhage, Hagen, 1679.
Description: A beautiful, modern half-parchment binding (34) 367 pp.Provenance: With ex-libris of E. Grendel (1899-1986) and another from J.M.H. Van de Sande. Ownership stamp of W. H. Molijn (4). Manuscript markings on pp. (8-9). A small tear on pp. (33), not affecting the text. Otherwise, in very good condition.A fascinating, rare volume relevant to the history of food, drink, and medicine in the Netherlands. In 1678, the Dutch physician and professor Cornelis Bontekoe (1647-1685, given name: Dekker) wrote a treatise in praise of the medicinal benefits of tea. One year later, he issued a second edition--the volume at hand--that is the first edition to present two new treatises: one lauding the benefits of coffee (coffi), the other those of chocolate.This work brought Bontekoe fame; perhaps most commonly cited is his recommendation that his readers drink 8-10 cups of tea a day, claiming he drank 50-200. But it is also a polemical text about the state of medicine in Bontekoe's time, and women's role in illness. He reiterates that illness originates in women's deviant behaviors before, during, and after pregnancy (passed on also via breast milk). Bontekoe criticizes female healers, too, who (he says) promote unfounded medicinal remedies.The text opens with a foreword and a warning to readers where Bontekoe defends himself against his critics, presumably those who accused him of being an agent of the Dutch East India Company. A third letter is addressed to lovers of tea. The prefatory materials also include a two-page poem by V.O. that celebrates tea as the superior spice (compared to, for instance, stinky and vile tobacco).The treatise itself progresses from a general discourse on life, illness and death to the importance of drinking water and the beneficial effects of tea-water on the mouth, throat, stomach, blood, brain, eyes, kidneys, bladder, and more. The treatise on coffee--or, bean-water--follows, summarizing the medicinal benefits of coffee. On chocolate, Bontekoe provides instructions on its origins and how to prepare it for medicinal effect.The work closes with a lengthy Apologia (pp. 321-367, absent from the first edition) to Bontekoe's slanderers.B2065. This book was held by at least two major collectors of texts on the history of pharmacology: E. Grendel (1899-1986) and J.M.H. Van de Sande (1916-2010). The Grendel family practiced pharmacy in Gouda dating back to the 18th century; a majority of E. Grendel's book collection is now held by the National Pharmaceutical Museum in Gouda. Books belonging to the Dutch pharmacist J.M.H. van de Sande form the Collectie van de Sande at the University of Utrecht.
Keywords: Drinks|Early printings|Literature|Medical & Science|Tea|Trade|Women
Title: History of Food and Drink, History of Medicine, 1679 | Tractaat van het excellenste kruyd thee (...) benevens een kort discours op het leven, de siekte en de dood, mitsgaders op de medicijne van dese tijd. 2e druk, vermeerdert (...) I Van de coffi II Van de chocolate. Mitsgaders van een apologie van den autheur tegens sijne lasteraars. 's-Gravenhage, Hagen, 1679.
Description: A beautiful, modern half-parchment binding (34) 367 pp.Provenance: With ex-libris of E. Grendel (1899-1986) and another from J.M.H. Van de Sande. Ownership stamp of W. H. Molijn (4). Manuscript markings on pp. (8-9). A small tear on pp. (33), not affecting the text. Otherwise, in very good condition.A fascinating, rare volume relevant to the history of food, drink, and medicine in the Netherlands. In 1678, the Dutch physician and professor Cornelis Bontekoe (1647-1685, given name: Dekker) wrote a treatise in praise of the medicinal benefits of tea. One year later, he issued a second edition--the volume at hand--that is the first edition to present two new treatises: one lauding the benefits of coffee (coffi), the other those of chocolate.This work brought Bontekoe fame; perhaps most commonly cited is his recommendation that his readers drink 8-10 cups of tea a day, claiming he drank 50-200. But it is also a polemical text about the state of medicine in Bontekoe's time, and women's role in illness. He reiterates that illness originates in women's deviant behaviors before, during, and after pregnancy (passed on also via breast milk). Bontekoe criticizes female healers, too, who (he says) promote unfounded medicinal remedies.The text opens with a foreword and a warning to readers where Bontekoe defends himself against his critics, presumably those who accused him of being an agent of the Dutch East India Company. A third letter is addressed to lovers of tea. The prefatory materials also include a two-page poem by V.O. that celebrates tea as the superior spice (compared to, for instance, stinky and vile tobacco).The treatise itself progresses from a general discourse on life, illness and death to the importance of drinking water and the beneficial effects of tea-water on the mouth, throat, stomach, blood, brain, eyes, kidneys, bladder, and more. The treatise on coffee--or, bean-water--follows, summarizing the medicinal benefits of coffee. On chocolate, Bontekoe provides instructions on its origins and how to prepare it for medicinal effect.The work closes with a lengthy Apologia (pp. 321-367, absent from the first edition) to Bontekoe's slanderers.B2065. This book was held by at least two major collectors of texts on the history of pharmacology: E. Grendel (1899-1986) and J.M.H. Van de Sande (1916-2010). The Grendel family practiced pharmacy in Gouda dating back to the 18th century; a majority of E. Grendel's book collection is now held by the National Pharmaceutical Museum in Gouda. Books belonging to the Dutch pharmacist J.M.H. van de Sande form the Collectie van de Sande at the University of Utrecht.
Keywords: Drinks|Early printings|Literature|Medical & Science|Tea|Trade|Women
Price: EUR 817.50 = appr. US$ 888.50 Seller: Antiquariaat Arine van der Steur
- Book number: 52440
- Book number: 52440