For my pet book project I’ve chosen to work with the castell of helth written by Sir Thomas Elyot. The copy of the book that I am working with is estimated to be from 1541 which makes this book almost 500 years old. I came across this book because I have an avid interest in public health. For my pet book project I wanted to work with a book that through the physical book itself couples with its historical context could tell me more about the circumstances surrounding public health during a certain time period. 

The castell of helth is said to be the first medical text written in modern English. There was another text that I considered choosing for my project but ultimately I went with the castell of helth because I believed that the physical book had a more interesting story to tell when compared to my other choice. The particular copy of the book I have is quite worn. The spine is exposed and the binding has barely held together. Even in this condition, or maybe because of it, the human connection to this book is quite apparent. There are signatures written on the inside of the front cover of the book and a possible signature (that seems much older than the rest) written in the back. There are small details such as the hint of a medieval manuscript along the edges of the covers of the book, which suggests that someone wanted to preserve the cover of the binding of the book. I would like to assume that whoever tried to re-bind the book, cared about the text very much. The castell of helth, unlike most modern medical texts, is quite small. I like to think that this book was often carried around with its current owner and I hope I might be able to find something in my research to support this claim. 

The castell of helth contains a colophon as well as a title page which details information about where the book was imprinted and when. I hope to use these details to do some research into the history of the publication of the book and find more information about the people who worked on it. For example, the book’s author, Sir Thomas Elyot, was a knight. It is possible there are historical records about him. A quick Google search of the castell of helth recommends other books by Sir Elyot so this is a high possibility. 

         

There are many details about the castell of helth that I am eager to look into but there were three details in particular that I am especially excited to (hopefully) find more information on. One of these details is a small hole that runs through the middle of the entire book from front cover through pages to the back cover. This could’ve been done deliberately or as an accident. I would also love to find out more about the page numbers. Some pages have numbers in the top right hand corner of the pages while others are left blank. The pages that do have numbers seem to not be in numerical order. Maybe the book was rebound? Maybe the numbers were a printing error? The third aspect of the castell of helth that I am most looking forward to is the condition of the cover of the book. The cover is made from embossed leather but it is in very poor condition. It would be interesting to know more about what the book was exposed to (perhaps extreme heat?) that caused the condition of the cover to deteriorate. 

I listed three mysteries that come with this book but there is so much more to examine about the castell of helth. From the foxing on the pages to the elaborate font that makes the words on the pages difficult to read. Everything about this book is linked to the historical background of the text itself or of the people who owned it. I am looking forward to discovering more about this text during the course of History of the Book.