Other languages

• Dutch: artesliteratuur, praktische literatuur 
• French: livre de savoir pratique 
• German: Fachprosa, Sachliteratur, Wissensliteratur, Gebrauchsliteratur 
• Italian: libri di sapere prattico, libro di segreti, letteratura didattica, manualistica, scienza popolare (19th c.), manuale/modi di… 
• Polish: literatura użytkowa, poradnik, instrukcja
• Spanish: libro de conocimientos útiles

Material form

Subject

Description

Early modern how-to books are a category for which no unified terminology is in use. They provided practical instruction, often combined with some more theoretical or general background knowledge, in fields as varied as medicine, carpentry, horticulture, navigation, mining, cooking, calligraphy, embroidery. They taught skills, procedures, techniques, and/or explained the utility and use of ingredients and tools. In many cases, this instruction from a book will have been combined with instruction and experimentation in practice. 

Some how-to books were general compendiums of knowledge, including many books of secrets and household manuals, while others were dedicated to a single subject. Some targeted a professional audience, others were written for a relatively unexperienced lay audience, or apprentices. Such differences in intended audiences can be observed for instance among medical treatises and recipe books.  

How-to books could appear in a variety of styles. Many were written in prose, with different (often short) chapters for different sub-themes of the subject matter at hand. A common trope was to present the didactic message as a dialogue between a student and an expert in the field. In other works, the material was presented in verse or as a numbered series of questions and answers. Many how-to books contained illustrations so as to clarify tools, ingredients, objects or procedures, and generally to accommodate for a potentially large audience.   

It appears that the genre of how-to books covered mostly knowledge for adults (and young adults), including (novice) professionals. The education of younger children was mostly covered through other genres, such as general histories, catechisms, prayer books, abecedaria and hornbooks (see children’s book and schoolbook).   

Related terms

didactic literature, practical instruction, professional literature, popular science, textbook, manual, handbook, book of secrets, medical literature

Sources

L. Andries, ‘Les livres de savoir pratique dans la France ancienne’, in : R. Chartier and H.-J. Lüsebrink (eds.), Colportage et lecture populaire  imprimés de large circulation en Europe XVIe-XIXe siècles. Actes du colloque des 21-24 avril 1991, Wolfenbüttel (Paris: IMEC Éditions, 1996).

G.M. Bruño, Tesoro de conocimientos útiles. Lecturas científicas y amenas dispuestas para servir como lecciones de cosas: Ilustrado con profusión de grabados (Madrid: Bruño, 1966). 

A.N.H. Creager, M. Grote, E. Leong, ‘Learning by the Book: Manuals and Handbooks in the History of Science’, The British Journal for the History of Science 5 (2020), 1-13.

W. Eamon, Science and the Secrets of Nature: Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994). 

N. Glaisyer, ‘Popular Didactic Literature’, in: J. Raymond (ed.), The Oxford History of Popular Print Culture, Vol. 1 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 510-519.

N. Glaisyer, S. Pennell (eds.), Didactic Literature in England 1500-1800. Expertise Constructed (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003).

C. Griffin, Instructional Writing in English, 1350-1650: Materiality and Meaning (New York: Routledge, 2019).

T. Hagendijk, Reworking Recipes. Reading and Writing Practical Texts in the Early Modern Arts, dissertation Utrecht University 2020, https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/397503 (accessed 27 February 2023).

R. Porter (ed.), The Popularization of Medicine, 1650-1850 (London/New York: Routledge, 1992).

D.A. Seger, The Practical Renaissance: Information Culture and the Quest for Knowledge in Early Modern England (London/New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022).

P.H. Smith, From Lived Experience to the Written Word. Reconstructing Practical Knowledge in the Early Modern World (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2022).

M. Valleriani (ed.), The Structures of Practical Knowledge (Cham: Springer, 2017).