Book Review

Obstetrics and Gynecology: A history and iconography

N Engl J Med 1995; 332:129January 12, 1995

Article

Obstetrics and Gynecology: A history and iconography
(Norman Obstetrics and Gynecology Series. No. 3.) Revised second edition of Iconographia Gyniatrica. By Harold Speert. 540 pp., illustrated. San Francisco, Norman, 1994. $245. ISBN: 0-930405-62-5

“The history of obstetrics and gynecology has been written in painting, pottery, parchment, paper, and plaster, rock drawings, wood carvings, coins, tapestries, mosaics, gravestones, and sculpture,” writes Harold Speert, and indeed his new book reproduces much of this iconography. A revised edition of his Iconographia Gyniatrica, which was first published in 1973, Obstetrics and Gynecology is a lavishly illustrated (and therefore quite expensive) history of the field. Any good review, therefore, needs to consider both the illustrations and the historical argument.

Speert notes in his preface that obstetrical and gynecologic artifacts and pictures are the main focus of his interest. Indeed, he concedes that he did not include important subjects like anesthesia for childbirth because there was “little record in pictures.” Thus, the illustrations are by far the greatest strength of this beautiful book.

Each of the 19 chapters, arranged topically, reproduces photographs of artifacts, paintings, illustrations from textbooks, cartoons, and other iconography, with a somewhat brief text tying the subject together. Surprisingly, the majority of these images predate the explosion in the number of printed books from the 19th century, and there are only a very few representations from classic obstetrical works such as those by Joseph B. DeLee or John Whitridge Williams. But, for those of us who teach the history of women's health or for interested physicians and other health professionals, these illustrations will be enormously useful. Most are at least quarter-page size, and the quality of the reproductions, though they are in black and white, is magnificent.

But whereas the illustrations are the strength of this book, the text is less valuable. Perhaps in part because of the conditions imposed by the illustrations, the narrative is idiosyncratic. Moreover, it does not cite any of the exciting scholarship in the history of women's health from the past 20 years. In addition, although it may be an oversight, the text shows a surprising lack of sensitivity in its use of sexist language. The result is sentences such as this: “Impatient with Nature's slow answer to his perennial question, man has ever sought a reliable test for pregnancy's early diagnosis.”

The high cost may prevent some readers from purchasing this book, but everyone interested in the history of obstetrics and gynecology should at least examine it. It is a beautiful and, unfortunately, now somewhat rare example of the real art of bookmaking.

Charlotte G. Borst, Ph.D.
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294