Macer Floridus' "De Viribus Herba"...

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi GC,

> Much of this information harkens to the so-called Banckes' Herbal of 1525.
> (Banckes was the printer, the herbal is anonymous).  I had been under the
> impression this was a stand-alone book, but it turns out it is a partial
> translation of Macer's Herbal

May I ask your source for this? When I last looked, there were so many 
books and papers on English herbals that it was hard to know where to 
start. :-/

> I'm wondering if
> there isn't a manuscript copy of Macer or some other herbal based on this in
> the Cambridge library.  If so it might provide the common thread to these
> interesting artistic stylings.

There are certainly numerous incunabula and printed copies of Macer 
Floridus' "De Viribus Herba" dotted around the world: the British Library 
(of course) has two (one from 1495?/Geneva, and one from 1500?/Geneva, 
though only the second is marked as being illustrated with woodcuts), 
there's also MS. X91 in the Royal Library of Stockholm (which was the copy 
upon which Gosta Frisk's Middle English thesis was based), and so on.

When I'm next in the British Library (I'm hoping for next Monday), I'll see 
if I can get their two copies out & see what they're like. Shelfmarks: I.A. 
38486 / I.A. 38486a, and I.A 38498 / I.A. 38498a.

As for a possible manuscript copy in Cambridge, I'll be going up there on 
Tuesday so will ask around, see if I can find someone who knows someone who 
might know. :-)

The first incunabulum of Macer Floridus' herbal appeared in Milan in 1477, 
and woodcuts began to be added to it round about 1495-1500 in the Geneva 
editions. A quick literature search hasn't revealed anything that looks as 
though it may contain a systematic comparison of the woodcuts between 
separate editions:but this may well be a revealing exercise in itself.

BTW: in 1477, Caterina Sforza was 14 and living in Milan (it was the year 
that she got married to Girolamo Riario). :-)  So shoot me for pointing it 
out! :-)

> To them I say, millions from McDonald's still
> can't buy you an ounce of common sense.  :-)

Still, it would be nice to have both. :-)

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling....