That which principally enobles any science, is the dignity of its object, and the public utility arising from it’: midwifery and medical writing in 18th-century British reference works.

The general aim of this contribution is a historical and diachronic linguistic analysis of the ‘art and science’ called midwifery as it emerges from the paratext of British reference works (instruction manuals and family books, textbooks, treatises, etc.) originally published in English between 1701 and 1800 by contemporary authors. The paratextual sections under scrutiny are front matter (i.e. title page, table of contents, preface and/or introduction, advertisement; dedication is excluded) and back matter (i.e. index and/or glossary, appendix). Lexicological and textual analyses.