The Family Physician: A Victorian Manual for Health

During the Victorian era, Cassell and Company published several multi-volume editions of “The Family Physician,” an English domestic medical manual often available by subscription. Authored somewhat vaguely by “the physicians and surgeons of London hospitals,” the work contained information on diseases and advice on remedies, clearly aimed at household caregivers and part of the era’s self-help ethos. Volume Four often added a seventeen-chapter bonus section called “The Ladies’ Physician” with gynecological and obstetrical material. The books contained many illustrations including some portraits of famous doctors who appeared to give the project their imprimatur. My paper focuses on the contents of “The Family Physician” and examines its treatment of some specific diseases like diabetes, its production by Cassell and its distribution throughout the English-speaking world.