Hortus Sanitatis.

MEYDENBACH, Jacob, compiler. [Author unknown]

Published by Jacob Mydenbach, Mainz, 1491

23 June 1491. Chancery Folio (285 x 197 mm). 441 (of 454) unnumbered leaves, lacking the first printed leaf A1 and the final two gatherings 2D-2E of the index including colophon (11 unillustrated text leaves and final blank). Text in two columns; spaces left blank for initials, some with printed guide letter. 6 (of 7) full-page and 1066 (of 1066) column-width woodcut illustrations of herbs, plants, animals and human activities in text, all in fine contemporary hand-color. Signatures: (A-B)8 (C-Z)8-6 (a-l)6-8 2M8 (n-z)8-6 [et]8 (aa-hh)6-8 (ii-l)l6 [chi]8 2v6 2A8 (2B-2E)6 (-A1, -D^6, -E^6). Leaf A4 unsigned; leaf n unsigned; leaf v1 unsigned, leaves v2-v3 signed "v j" and "v ij"; leaf ee2 unsigned; gathering [chi] signed on [chi2]-[chi4] as follows: "ij", "iij" and "iiij"; leaves ²v1-²v3 signed "v", "vj" and "vij". Gathering ²B misbound after ²C6. Contemporary German blind-tooled goatskin over thin wooden boards, spine with 4 raised bands and hand-lettered paper label, boards ruled and with roll-stamps of bandwork, including pairs of flower buds and tendrils, pair of original brass closures, straps fixed with pins to lower board, original endpapers, green-dyed edges (some chipping of leather mainly to board edges, spine ends and joints, chipping of paper label affecting first word of title, minor rubbing of boards). Annotated throughout in different hands. The text crisp and clean with only very little age-toning of paper, some minor spotting, staining and ink smudging in places; some of the woodcuts with green hand-color cracked or chipped; some offsetting and bleeding of color; gathering D-E with a few wormtracks at upper blank margin; f.A2 with old paper repair obscuring parts of the text in first column recto; f.A7 with paper reinforcement at inner margin, f.U1 lower blank margin torn w. loss of signature and old repaired, f.n1 with clean tear at foot and chipped patches repaired with paper costing one letter recto and affecting woodcut verso, ff.r4, [et]2, [et]3, o2, [chi]1 woodcuts with chipped patches (most backed with paper from verso), f.ii6 repaired tear with obscured letters added in manuscript. Provenance: ownership inscription on f.A2, one dated 1657 and the other 1696; from a South-German apothecary family. ---- FIRST EDITION, fully colored, of "perhaps the most important medical woodcut book printed before 1500" (Hunt I,8) and the most copiously illustrated early printed herbal. The third and broadest in scope of the three great fifteenth-century herbals, the Hortus Sanitatis is an encyclopaedic survey of the plant, animal and mineral kingdoms and their medical applications. Regarded the last great medieval compilation of natural history, it includes much traditional lore, and its many authorities are scrupulously cited. The book is divided into five major "treatises", on plants, animals, birds, fish and precious stones, with an additional shorter treatise on urines. The text of the Tractatus de herbis differs substantially from the Gart der Gesundheit, and the traditional bibliographic reference to these historically related but very different works as the German and Latin versions of the Hortus Sanitatis is incorrect (In the 16th century the Hortus was translated into German, but there are no Latin versions of the Gart). 409 of the 530 botanical woodcuts were based on the cuts of Schönsperger's smaller format editions of the Gart, the remainder being specially commissioned for this edition. The woodcuts of the other sections belong to several different series, cut by engravers of various levels of skill. They include a series of genre scenes showing workmen at their labors, doctors with patients, etc., probably cut by the same engraver who was responsible for the full-page woodcuts. The three succeeding German incunable editions, printed by Johann Prüss, were illustrated with copies of these cuts. - Visit our website for further reading and to see all the images! Seller Inventory # 003639

Bibliographic Details

Title: Hortus Sanitatis.
Publisher: Jacob Mydenbach, Mainz
Publication Date: 1491
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Edition: 1st Edition