The Midwives Book: Or the Whole Art of Midwifry Discovered (Women Writers in English 1350-1850)

When the midwife Jane Sharp wrote The Midwives Book in 1671, she became the first British woman to publish a midwifery manual. Drawing on works by her male contemporaries and weaving together medical information and lively anecdotes, she produces a book that is instructive, accessible, witty, and constantly surprising.