After ten years as a midwife in Paris, Madame du Coudray was hired by King Louis XV to travel across France to better train rural midwives.There were political motivations for this; Louis wanted to boost a “declining” population, and more subjects also meant more capable soldiers. Unlike Queen Charlotte of England, who chose William Hunter as the royal obstetrician, Louis appointed du Coudray, a woman, to train women. Madame du Coudray became the national midwife in 1759, earning 8,000 livres a year—equal to that of a decorated military general. Her book underwent numerous editions.

Du Coudray invented an obstetrical manikin, or obstretrical "machine," a cloth covered fetus and female pelvis and womb that she used to demonstrate complicated birthing techniques. This was analogous to the "machine" also invented around the same time in Scotland by William Smellie. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

The first edition of du Coudray's book was not illustrated. Some later editions were illustrated with some engraved plates printed in two colors, some in three colors, and some also handcolored. See Gelbart, Nina Rattner, The King's Midwife: a History and Mystery of Madame Du Coudray, Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1998.