Details
MACER FLORIDUS (or AEMILIUS), [pseud., ODO OF MEUNG?]. Macri Philosophi de Virtutibus Herbarum et Qualitatibus Speciebus noviter inventus ac impressis. Venice: Bernardino dei Vitali, 10 June 1508. 4to, 193 x 144 mm., 19th-century wrappers,head of backstrip torn, title-leaf a bit soiled. Collation: a-m8. 96 leaves, unfoliated. Roman type. Space for opening initial with guide letter, 3-line capital initials elsewhere. BM/STC Italian, p. 401; Brunet III, 1270.
Second edition from this press, apparently a reprint of Vitali's 1506 edition of this popular medieval didactic poem, a description in Latin hexameters of 77 or more plants and their properties (the text varies: some editions describe 86, 88, or more plants). The work was written at some time in the 9th or 10th centuries; a 12th-century manuscript cites as author Odo, Bishop of Meung, but the attribution remains uncertain. First printed in 1477 (the first illustrated edition appearing in 1482), making it the earliest printed herbal, it "is of importance as one of the earliest Western documents showing a revival of interest in botany" (Hunt 22). Most of the many early printed editions are quite rare. 86 plants are described in this pleasantly printed unillustrated Venetian edition.
Provenance: Bibliotheca Venipontana, inkstamp on title -- Kenneth K. Mackenzie; Horticultural Society of New York, bookplate an blindstamp.
Second edition from this press, apparently a reprint of Vitali's 1506 edition of this popular medieval didactic poem, a description in Latin hexameters of 77 or more plants and their properties (the text varies: some editions describe 86, 88, or more plants). The work was written at some time in the 9th or 10th centuries; a 12th-century manuscript cites as author Odo, Bishop of Meung, but the attribution remains uncertain. First printed in 1477 (the first illustrated edition appearing in 1482), making it the earliest printed herbal, it "is of importance as one of the earliest Western documents showing a revival of interest in botany" (Hunt 22). Most of the many early printed editions are quite rare. 86 plants are described in this pleasantly printed unillustrated Venetian edition.
Provenance: Bibliotheca Venipontana, inkstamp on title -- Kenneth K. Mackenzie; Horticultural Society of New York, bookplate an blindstamp.