![[HERBARIUS LATINUS]. Incipit tractatus de virtutibus herbarum. Venice: Christophorus de Pensis [for L.A. Giunta], 1502.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2016/NYR/2016_NYR_12262_0039_000(herbarius_latinus_incipit_tractatus_de_virtutibus_herbarum_venice_chri101356).jpg?w=1)
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[HERBARIUS LATINUS]. Incipit tractatus de virtutibus herbarum. Venice: Christophorus de Pensis [for L.A. Giunta], 1502.
Second Venetian edition of the Herbarius Latinus, and the third printed in Italy, all but two of the woodcuts reprinted from the earlier editions of Vicenza 1491 and Venice 1499, these two (on n5r and r8r) being copies (the second reversed) of the originals.
8vo (234 x 1334 mm). Title printed in red with Giunta's printer's device, 150 numbered half-page woodcut illustrations in text (a few misnumbered), one 5-line white-on-black woodcut initial and numerous smaller initials. (Lacks A2, first three leaves inlaid and from another copy, a few marginal repairs, some dampstaining.) 18th-century cat’s-paw calf, smooth spine gilt. Provenance: marginalia and underlining in ink by an early hand; Robert Barclay (armorial bookplate). Essling 1191; Nissen BBI 2309; Sander 613.
This edition erroneously attributes the work to Arnaldus de Villanova, which originated in a printer's error in Simon Bevilacqua's Venice 1499 edition; the error was perpetuated in the 1509 and 1520 Latin editions, but not in the subsequent vernacular editions. In spite of the long popularity of the Herbarius Latinus in Italy, most of the species depicted are native to Germany: Anderson (p. 86) postulates that its great appeal to the Italian market was due equally to the unillustrated second section, which treats the classic materia medica, the spices, fruits, minerals and animal products that "were commonly available in the shops of apothecaries and spice merchants." The woodcuts of the Italian editions, originally cut for the 1491 Vicenza edition and transferred to Venice by Simon Bevilacqua for his 1499 edition, are generally considered superior to their German models; Nissen found them more "delicate," and Arber (pp. 192-3) described them as "more ambitious than those in the original German [editions], and, on the whole...more naturalistic."
Second Venetian edition of the Herbarius Latinus, and the third printed in Italy, all but two of the woodcuts reprinted from the earlier editions of Vicenza 1491 and Venice 1499, these two (on n5r and r8r) being copies (the second reversed) of the originals.
8vo (234 x 1334 mm). Title printed in red with Giunta's printer's device, 150 numbered half-page woodcut illustrations in text (a few misnumbered), one 5-line white-on-black woodcut initial and numerous smaller initials. (Lacks A2, first three leaves inlaid and from another copy, a few marginal repairs, some dampstaining.) 18th-century cat’s-paw calf, smooth spine gilt. Provenance: marginalia and underlining in ink by an early hand; Robert Barclay (armorial bookplate). Essling 1191; Nissen BBI 2309; Sander 613.
This edition erroneously attributes the work to Arnaldus de Villanova, which originated in a printer's error in Simon Bevilacqua's Venice 1499 edition; the error was perpetuated in the 1509 and 1520 Latin editions, but not in the subsequent vernacular editions. In spite of the long popularity of the Herbarius Latinus in Italy, most of the species depicted are native to Germany: Anderson (p. 86) postulates that its great appeal to the Italian market was due equally to the unillustrated second section, which treats the classic materia medica, the spices, fruits, minerals and animal products that "were commonly available in the shops of apothecaries and spice merchants." The woodcuts of the Italian editions, originally cut for the 1491 Vicenza edition and transferred to Venice by Simon Bevilacqua for his 1499 edition, are generally considered superior to their German models; Nissen found them more "delicate," and Arber (pp. 192-3) described them as "more ambitious than those in the original German [editions], and, on the whole...more naturalistic."