Book of Healing

Joseph OdÙmÓsÙ (1863–1911) was part of a burgeoning cultural and political renaissance in southwestern Nigeria that crystallized in the wake of British conquest in the late nineteenth century. He acquired the first printing press in his home district of Ìjẹ̀bÚ, launched its first magazine, spearheaded a trade boycott, and presided over a chapter of the Aborigines Protection Society. He was also a traditional healer, trained by a group of masters known as experts in the realm of herbal remedies. Michael ỌlÁdẹ̀jọ AfọlÁyan is an expert in systemic text linguistics with a special focus on YorÙbÁ language and literature. He is the author of the memoir Fate of Our Mothers: The Collected Memories of an African Village Boy and the translator of Welcome to the White Man’s World: Isaac Oluwole Delano’s Historical Novel, Aiye D’aiye Oyinbo. Now retired from Southern Illinois University, he works part-time as an educational consultant. Helen Tilley is an associate professor of history with courtesy appointments in law and anthropology at Northwestern University. She is the author of the award-winning book Africa as a Living Laboratory: Empire, Development, and the Problem of Scientific Knowledge and the editor of several volumes, including Therapeutic Properties: Global Medical Cultures, Knowledge, and Law.

“An outstanding work of scholarship that promotes a corpus of indigenous African knowledge. OdÙmÓsÙ’s book is the first comprehensive compilation of YorÙbÁ medical diagnoses and recipes. This translation will bring OdÙmÓsÙ’s original text to global attention and make it accessible to a wide range of researchers, students, and readers across different disciplines and walks of life.” - Akin Ogundiran, author of The Yorùbá: A New History

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Note on Translation Introduction: Joseph OdÙmÓsÙ and ÌwÉ ÌwÒsÀn (1910): Print Cultures and Therapeutic Powers Helen Tilley Part I Part II Part III Appendixes Glossary Further Reading