Feature: From the Archive - Everard Digby’s ‘De Arte Natandi’
2 August 2012
What is it?
'De Arte Natandi' ('The Art of Swimming'), written by Everard Digby, a Cambridge don noted by his contemporaries for a number of theological works.
Why is it so special?
Published in 1587, it is the first swimming treatise by someone from the British Isles. A short work, it is a tremendously important book in the history of swimming, covering both theory and technique. Over 40 different strokes and manoeuvres are described, aided by as many woodcuts.
Digby sees swimming as something natural to humans, arguing that man excels in the water over all the other beasts (fitting with the prevailing view that man's place was at the head of the great chain of being). The work is alive to the dangers of swimming outdoors: Digby makes careful note of the safest methods of entering a river and advises on the different kinds of water that can be swum in. In some ways, 'De Arte Natandi' is as much safety manual as exercise guide.
Can I see it?
'De Arte Natandi' can be seen by anyone at the Wellcome Library, on request. The illustrations from it are also available at
Wellcome Images.
Want to know more?
For contextual details and a translation, the Library also holds a copy of Nicholas Orme's 'Early British swimming, 55 BC-AD 1719' (1983).
Find out more at the Wellcome Library Western Manuscripts and Archives catalogue and the Wellcome Library catalogue entry for ‘De Arte Natandi’.
This feature also appears in issue 71 of ‘Wellcome News’.
Images: All images are from ‘De Arte Natandi’ by E Digby (1587). Credit: Wellcome Library, London.
