The Rose: Disease and the Art of Medical Illustration

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Review ------ Although The Rose includes photographs of a leper's crutches, prosthetic noses, and a "medicated balsamic chest protector," it is for the most part a treasury of the most handsome and curious lithographic prints found in nineteenth-century clinical textbooks...Richard Barnett serves up fascinating synopses of the cardinal diseases of the period, each chapter dotted with grisly factoids- even acknowledging the role of state power, imperialism, and abjection in the manufacture of these images.--Andrew Bourne "BOMB Magazine " The old lithographs that fill page after page of Barnett's THE ROSE are of people and the diseases they suffer--from commonplace ailments like eczema to gout to cancer. And the pictures are...horible. And beautiful. And horrible. They are skillfully and carefully--almost lovingly--done by anonymous artists.--Lucas Peterson "Flaunt " If you're able to detach yourself from the knee-jerk reaction of: 'Oh my f**king god what's wrong with that dude's face?', these illustrations are really neat to look at.--Jonathan Smith "Vice.com " A memento of a remarkable genre ... the excellent choice of image, high production standards, and formidable scholarship of The Rose suggest that it is a book that will endure. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in art, medicine, history or, simply, the difficult and exhausting business of having and maintaining a body.--Niall Boyce "The Lancet " The strange, symbiotic relationship between medicine and social oppression is here given full-colour form: not only by anatomical illustrations of paupers' and criminals' corpses, but also by what - were they not so disfigured - would be regarded as straightforward portraits of the leprous and the syphilitic, the tubercular and the cancerous ... Richard Barnett's superbly erudite and lucid accompanying text would really suffice in itself as an introduction to the history of western medical science.--Will Self "The Guardian " A squirm-inducing illustrated tour through a kaleido of 19th-century diseases.... over 350 strangely fascinating images from the world's rarest medical books.--Hannah Lack "AnOther Mag " If you think you're squeamish and medical drawings aren't for you don't be put off. This incredible book transcends that.--Helen Rumbelow "The Times "