The Garden of Health: An Account of Two Herbals, the Gart des Gesundheit and the Hortus Sanitatis. by Ellen Shaffer (1904-1993) - 1957

San Francisco, CA:: Book Club of California,, 1957. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Missing. Series: Book Club of California Publication, No. 96. LIMITED EDITION of 300 copies printed by Lawton Kennedy for the Book Club of California with Estienne linotype on machine made paper. Folio. 13 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches. [viii], 41, [1 blank] pp. Frontispiece, title page printed in red and black inks with a green vignette of the sun, Original leaf from the Hortus Sanitatis, 1499 with 3 woodcut illustrations of plants, section headings printed in red, illustrations and decorations throughout from the books; text clean, unmarked, the original leaf with some water-staining to the upper corner at the margin where there are 3 worm holes outside of the printed text. Beige linen spine, printed paper over boards, spine titled in black; binding square and tight, LACKS dust-jacket. Original prospectus laid in. Very Good. Ellen Shaffer was a long-time employee of Dawson's Book Shop who was an authority on early printed books. "One of the most interesting books the Club has published. The two herbals about which Ellen Shaffer wrote her essay were the picture books of our medieval ancestors, filled with quaint, spirited woodcuts, representing the sciences of botany and medicine in their infancy. The original leaf inserted in each copy bears one or more woodcuts from the editor of Hortus Sanitatis printed by Johann Press in Strassburg in the year 1499. As the woodcuts on the inserted leaf varies in size and character and desirability, no member was given his choice of copy. All copies were wrapped and sealed at the printer's and members took pot-luck. Included in the Exhibition of Western Books (Rounce & Coffin Club)." REFERENCE: Magee, The Hundredth Book, No. 96.