Book review: Arden of Faversham by Catherine Richardson (ed.)

Abstract

from the West Indies; gamboge was a gum resin associated with what is now Cambodia; benzoin came from a particular kind of tree in Sumatra; sarsaparilla was imported from Jamaica, and sassafras from Florida. Hall’s pyrethrum, or pellitory root, used to treat Mr. Fortescue’s ‘epilepsy’, originated from north Africa, and was sourced from Spain. Hall took the fact that Fortescue was alive some years later as a sign of his proficiency. Wells shows us a serious man doing serious work, building a medical library and using it as a resource of authority. This edition of Hall began as a PhD thesis for which Wells made a faithful transcription of Hall’s Latin manuscript that he then translated into English. Wells’s bilingual thesis established many of the bibliographical references in Hall’s casebook and identified works in Hall’s personal library. Sadly, Wells did not live to see his fine, beautifully illustrated, scholarly edition in print. The work has been brought to publication with extraordinary care, dedication, and love by Paul Edmondson, with the agreement of Wells in his last few weeks of life. As Edmondson explains in his preface, ‘For the first time, it is now possible to read about Hall’s conversations with his patients, his prayers for their recovery, and his thanksgivings for their cures’ (p. xix). This book has been a truly collaborative endeavour that honours the scholar whose assiduous work lies at its heart.