Fur: a sensitive history Fur: a sensitive history , by Jonathan Faiers, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2020, 240 pp., £40.00/$60.00 (hardcover), ISBN-13: 978-0-300-227208

Abstract

indispensably requisite in persons that makes wise choyce in marriadge’ (12). One of the most important and illuminating elements of Gwin’s commonplace book, however, is his inclusion of medical remedies and references to contemporary ideas about the body and illness. During the early modern period, theories about the body, illness and health were in constant flux as older humoral understandings were interwoven with emerging ideas rooted in new scientific discoveries. Indeed, Gwin includes a wide variety of medical notes and recipes that are rooted in both the traditional, humoral ideologies that often incorporated religious and astronomical elements, and those posited by reformist-minded practitioners like George Starkey who sought to challenge the Galenic hegemony of the Royal College of Physicians (35). It is the richness of Gwin’s medical entries that prompts Gray et al. to describe his commonplace book as one of the most important medical sources pertaining to early modern Wales. The editors’ presentation of Gwin’s commonplace book maintains the original spellings and Welsh vernacular (with translations and definitions provided) and replicates the original layout and formatting as faithfully as is possible in print. This allows the physicality of the book to be intimated, allowing the reader to feel closer to it as a primary source that was touched and engaged with. Indeed, the editors’ frequent references to the number of hands that are evident on each page indicates the book’s repeated use even after Gwin’s death and conveys important information about the book as a domestic tool as well as a collection of writings. The Commonplace Book of John Gwin of Llangwm will appeal to those with an interest in the machinations of life in seventeenth-century Wales as it provides insight into themes such as early modern masculinity, domesticity, husbandry and medicine, as well as faith, family and social networks. Thus, despite Gwin declaring (via his poetry) that ‘even such is man whoe lives by breath, is here nowe there soe life soe death’, Gray, Hopkins and Withey’s reproduction of his writing has ensured that his thoughts, beliefs and daily experiences are preserved in perpetuity and widely accessible.