Hortus Sanitatis by MEYDENBACH, Jacob, compiler. [Author unknown] - 1491

Mainz: Jacob Mydenbach, 1491. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Folio - over 12 - 15" tall. 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-B⁸ C-Z⁸̇̇⁻⁶ a-l⁶̇̇⁻⁸ ²M⁸ n-z⁸̇̇⁻⁶ [et]⁸ aa-hh⁶̇̇⁻⁸ ii-ll⁶ [chi]⁸ ²v⁶ ²A⁸ ²B-²E⁶ (-A1, -D⁶, -E⁶). 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.
In terms of freshness, sophistication and brilliance, the hand coloring of our copy is to be considered outstanding. It is strictly contemporary, indicated by the used copper-based green-color (Verdigris) which caused minor cracking of underneath paper-patches in places.
"The third of the fundamental botanical works, produced at Mainz towards the close of the fifteenth century, was the 'Hortus,' or as it is more commonly called 'Ortus Sanitatis,' printed by Jacob Meydenbach in 1491. It is in part a modified Latin translation of the German Herbarius, but it is not merely this, for it contains treatises on animals, birds, fishes and stones, which are almost unrepresented in the Herbarius. Nearly one-third of the figures of herbs are new. The rest are copied on a reduced scale from the German Herbarius, and the drawing, which is by no means improved, often shows that the copyist did not fully understand the nature of the object he was attempting to portray. The Ortus Sanitatis is very rich in pictures. [...] Before the treatise on Animals, there is [a] large engraving of three figures with a number of beasts at their feet, and before that on Birds, there is a lively picture with an architectural background, showing a scene which swarms with innumerable birds of all kinds, whose peculiarities are apparently being discussed by two savants in the foreground. The treatise on Fishes begins with a landscape with water, enlivened by shipping. There are two figures in the foreground, and in the water, fishes, crabs and mythical monsters such as mermen, are seen disporting themselves. Before the treatise on Stones, there is a very spirited scene representing a number of figures in a jewelle's shop, and two large wood-cuts of doctors and their patients illustrate the medical portion with which the book concludes. The treatise on Plants is considerably modified from the German Herbarius, and the virtues of the herbs described are dealt with at greater length. The Herbarium of Apuleius Platonicus is more than once quoted, though not by name. A number of new illustrations are added, some of which are highly imaginative. The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge are dealt with amongst other botanical objects, a woman-headed serpent being introduced in the first case, and Adam and Eve in the second. There is a beautiful description of the virtues of the Tree of Life, in which we read that he who should eat of the fruit 'should be clothed with blessed immortality, and should not be fatigued with infirmity, or anxiety, or lassitude, or weariness of trouble.' The engraving which is named Narcissus has diminutive figures emerging from the flowers, like a transformation scene at a pantomime! It is probably, however, intended to represent the conversion of the beautiful youth, Narcissus, into a flower. Apart from these mythological subjects, there are a number of very curious engravings. A tree called 'Bausor,' for instance, which was believed to exhale a narcotic poison, like the fabulous Upas tree, has two men lying beneath its shade, apparently in the sleep of death. Among the herbs, substances such as starch, vinegar, cheese, soap, etc., are included, and as these do not lend themselves to direct representation, they become the excuse for a delightful set of genre pictures. 'Wine' is illustrated by a man gazing at a glass; 'Bread,' by a housewife with loaves on the table before her; 'Water,' by a fountain; 'Honey,' by a boy who seems to be extracting it from the comb; and 'Milk,' by a woman milking a cow. The picture which appears under the heading of Amber shows great ingenuity. The writer points out that this substance, according to some authors, is the fruit or gum of a tree growing by the sea, while according to others it is produced by a fish or by sea foam. In order to represent all these possibilities, the figure shows the sea, indicated in a conventional fashion, with a tree growing out of it, and a fish swimming in it. The writer of the Ortus Sanitatis, on the other hand, holds the opinion that Amber is generated under the sea, after the manner of the Fungi which arise on land. The treatises on animals and fishes are full of pictures of mythical creatures, such as a unicorn being caressed by a lady as though it were a little dog, recalling the 'Lady and Unicorn' tapestry in the Musée Cluny - a fight between a man and hydras - the phoenix in the flames - and a harpy with its claws in a man's body. Other monsters which are figured include a dragon, the Basilisk, Pegasus, and a bird with a long neck which is tied in an ornamental knot" (Arber).
Meydenbach's Hortus Sanitatis is exceptionally rare, with only a few complete or fully-colored copies at auction in the past 50+ years. The last complete copy (though with several defective leaves) recorded at auction was the Fürstenberg copy (Sothebys 2007, GBP 60,500).
References: Hain-C. *8944; GW n0166; BMC I,44 (IB. 343-4); Goff H-486; BSB H-388; Schreiber 4247; Early Herbals 45; Davies, Murray German 193; Goff H-486; Nissen, BBI 2362; Hunt 8; Schäfer/von Arnim 170; Agnes Arber, Herbals - Their Origin and Evolution - A Chapter in the History of Botany 1470-1670, 2014 (Gutenberg Project).