Books of Secrets : Natural Philosophy in England, 1550-1600

How cultural categories shaped—and were shaped by—new ideas about controlling nature Ranging from alchemy to necromancy, "books of secrets" offered medieval readers an affordable and accessible collection of knowledge about the natural world. Allison Kavey's study traces the cultural relevance of these books and also charts their influence on the people who read them. Citing the importance of printers in choosing the books' contents, she points out how these books legitimized manipulating nature, thereby expanding cultural categories, such as masculinity, femininity, gentleman, lady, and midwife, to include the willful command of the natural world. | Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Telling Secrets 1. Printing Secrets for Sale 2. Roger Bacon, Robert Greene's Friar Bacon, and the Secrets of Art and Nature 3. Structuring Secrets for Sale 4. Secrets Gendered: Femininity and Feminine Knowledge in Books of Secrets 5. Secrets Bridled, Gentlemen Trained Conclusion: A Secret by Any Other Name Notes Bibliography Index | "An impressive achievement. Books of Secrets brings together realms too often left disparate in contemporary scholarship: gender studies, history of science, and book history. It is fascinating how Kavey deftly traces fungible notions of agency across various materials and explanations, and this refusal to settle for easy answers is one of the book's many virtues. The answers it gives are all the more profound, and persuasive, for the effort." — Michael Schoenfeldt , author of Bodies and Selves in Early Modern England Kavey's book is an excellent entrée into this class of writings and provides many insights into how they were constructed."— Renaissance Quarterly The rise of print culture in early modern England is one of the most important and most frequently studied changes of the period. Often viewed as a marker of modernity, this shift provides the starting point for Books of Secrets, which illuminates how sixteenth-century English culture was influenced by one particular type of print matter--"books of secrets." Ranging from alchemy to necromancy, these texts offered medieval readers an affordable and accessible collection of knowledge about the natural world._x000B__x000B_Studying not only the content of these books but also uncovering how readers digested and reacted to it, Allison Kavey delves into several aspects of book production and consumption in early modern England. Books of Secrets examines familiar concerns of publishing--promotion, pricing, audience identification, and manipulation of structure and content--to show how books of secrets were part of a broad cultural effort to make elite knowledge popular and, in so doing, also make it legitimate and acceptable. Citing the importance of printers in choosing and structuring the books' contents, Kavey investigates how print materials record and store prevailing cultural myths and ideas about manipulating nature, while also generating new ones. She points out that books of secrets legitimized this process, thereby expanding cultural categories, such as masculinity, femininity, gentleman, lady, and midwife to include the willful command of the natural world. _x000B_ Introduction: Telling Secrets -- Printing Secrets -- Roger Bacon, Robert Greene's Friar Bacon, And The Secrets Of Art And Nature -- Structuring Secrets For Sale -- Secrets Gendered : Femininity And Feminine Knowledge In Books Of Secrets -- Secrets Bridled, Gentlemen Trained -- Conclusion: A Secret By Any Other Name. Allison Kavey. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 187-194) And Index.