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Page 81 · DO #1810 · 142_Payne_Schreiber_Vol.1_r
- Collection
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Payne, Joseph Frank (1840–1910 and Schreiber) manuscript of speech "On the 'Herbarius' and 'Hortus Sanitatis'" (Payne) and "The Herbals of the XVth and XVIth Centuries"
- Item/Folder
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Manuscript, 1901, 21 January 1901
- Digital Object
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DO #1810,
page 81
- Collection-level dates
- 21 January 1901
Page transcription
The Latin Herbani
"Herbarius Magni/untio impressuam/ Anno etc.
Lxxxiij/", underneath there is the Schoeffer printer's mark in red. The second leaf contains the preface, the third and fourth an index. The backs of the first and fourth leaves are empty.
The actual text begins on the fifth leaf, and, as the unknown author obviously intended to be of service to the poor, it is limited to herbs that either grew wild in the fields or were to be found in herb-gardens (in privatis locis). On the whole he describes 150 of these plants in alphabetical order, with one leaf for each of them. On the front of each leaf there is the page number at the top, underneath it the picture of the plant without any framing lines; the height of the pictures is between 92 and 97 mm, their breadth between 40 and 85 mm. These pictures are mostly drawn from the living plant, sometimes however from dried ones; in the latter case sometimes only a single stem is pictured, without the root, occasionally even without the flower. The drawings are somewhat stiff, but all the same clear and accurate. Usually only the outlines are drawn, hardly any shading is used. Underneath the pictures there is first the Latin and German name of the plant in large, thick type, then, in a smaller type, a description of its healing powers, usually 9 lines of it on the front, while the rest is placed on the back of the leaf. As there are 150 plants, this main part fills 300 pages. Added to these are a further 40 pages, on which 96 laxatives, spices, roots, hairs, salts, minerals and animal products, which could be purchased at the apothecaries', are dealt with shortly and without illustrations.
Though, owing to its Latin text, the book was hardly accessible to the general public, but was mainly of service to the apothecaries and
