Eutocia Or, For Mothers and Daughters. A Book For All Women.
Chicago: Arcade Publishing Company, 1887. Octavo, 8.5 x 5.75", green cloth with black lettering, 396, v, [15] pp, illustrations from drawings. A medical guide by Dr. Susan Selina Putnam Cook (1817 to 1895). Born in upstate New York, Cook taught school at age 17 before marrying Dr. Elihu George Cook, after which she graduated from Cleveland Medical College, possibly making her "the first woman physician in American to obtain her degree after marriage" ("Woman Physician Added to List of Seldom Recognized Women Patriots", Orange County Register, 8/28/1964). The two set up separate practices, with Elihu becoming a homeopath after the "homeopathic cure of his wife after her life had been despaired of." He was also "an uncompromising abolitionist, and during the antebellum excitement his wife was repeatedly threatened" (Obituary, New York Sun, 2/10/1893).
This treatise, meanwhile, contains many chapters on the treatment of women: "Menstruation and Care During It," "Painless Childbirth," "Duties and Rights of Women," "To Working Women," "Marriage and Maternity," etc. Other chapters include "Care of Infants' and Children's Rights," "The Evils of a Forced Education," "Causes and Treatment of Insanity," "Tobacco," and "Home Remedies and Treatment." At the end of the book is a nine page illustrated catalog of medical appliances, including breast pumps, soft nipple shields, bed pans, ladies' underwaists, and more. The book went through several editions in the 1880s, most published under the title "For Mothers and Daughters." Three in OCLC for any edition. A good copy with hinges cracked, wear and discoloration to covers, area of staining to rear cover. Item #12755
Price: $750.00