The Garden of Health. An Account of Two Herbals: The Gart der Gesundheit and the Hortus Sanitatis. by Shaffer, Ellen

n.p.: Printed for the Book Club of California, 1957. One of 300 copies designed and printed by Lawton Kennedy. Illustrated with numerous reproductions of woodcuts. Original leaf from the Hortus Sanitatus of 1499 printed by Johann Prüss. [viii], 41, [1] pp. 1 vols. Folio. Original cloth-backed pictorial boards. Fine, bookplate of Alice W. Heyneman. One of 300 copies designed and printed by Lawton Kennedy. Illustrated with numerous reproductions of woodcuts. Original leaf from the Hortus Sanitatus of 1499 printed by Johann Prüss. [viii], 41, [1] pp. 1 vols. Folio. Hamel 116; Magee 96; Disbound and Dispersed (Checklist) 116

Folio. San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1957. Folio, [viii], 41, [1, blank] pp. Quarter beige cloth, red boards, title printed in black on the backstrip, small spot on lower cover, otherwise a fine copy. § Limited to 300 copies printed by Lawton Kennedy in red and black, with an original illustrated leaf of “De Avibus” (Of Birds) from the 1499 edition of Hortus Sanitatis tipped in. “It was an agreeable conceit of the fifteenth century to attribute to its books of herb and materia medica the qualities of a garden—a garden in which mankind might seek and find those remedies which would bring the priceless gift of health. Two great herbals literally bore the name of ‘the garden of health’—the Gart der Gesundheit, which first appeared in Mainz, the birthplace of printing in 1485, and the Hortus Sanitatis, which was published in the same historic city six years later. For more than half a century thereafter these two classics in the fields of botany and medicine were issued in… Read More

Folio. San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1957. Folio, [viii], 41, [1, blank] pp. Quarter beige cloth, red boards, title printed in black on the backstrip, small spot on lower cover, otherwise a fine copy. § Limited to 300 copies printed by Lawton Kennedy in red and black, with an original illustrated leaf of “De Avibus” (Of Birds) from the 1499 edition of Hortus Sanitatis tipped in. “It was an agreeable conceit of the fifteenth century to attribute to its books of herb and materia medica the qualities of a garden—a garden in which mankind might seek and find those remedies which would bring the priceless gift of health. Two great herbals literally bore the name of ‘the garden of health’—the Gart der Gesundheit, which first appeared in Mainz, the birthplace of printing in 1485, and the Hortus Sanitatis, which was published in the same historic city six years later. For more than half a century thereafter these two classics in the fields of botany and medicine were issued in… Read More

N.P.: Book Club of California, The, 1957. cloth-backed boards. Leaf Book. 4to. cloth-backed boards. (vi), 41 pages. Limited to 300 copies and printed by Lawton Kennedy. Prospectus loosely inserted. The leaves have only minor soiling and toning. The book is in pristine condition. With an original leaf of the HORTIUS SANITATIS, 1499, loosely inserted. The leaf has five wood engravings and one wood-engraved character. Furthermore, an additional bi-fold signature of the HORTIUS SANITATIS has been loosely inserted and contains a total of four pages with nine wood engravings and three wood-engraved characters. To have a signature still intact is very rare. Introduction, history with 38 illustrations in the text, a list of works consulted and a bibliography of editions printed before 1500. It was an agreeable conceit of the fifteenth century to attribute to its books of herbs and materia medica the qualities of a garden. Two great herbals literally bore the name of "the garden of health"- the Gart… Read More