← Back to results
Page 121 · DO #1810 · 142_Payne_Schreiber_Vol.1_r
- Collection
-
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
-
Manuscript, 1901, 21 January 1901
- Digital Object
-
DO #1810,
page 121
- Collection-level dates
- 21 January 1901
Page transcription
with a polemic pamphlet, bearing the grand title: "Apologia, qua refellit molitiosas H. Ryffii, veteratoris possimi reprehensiones, quae illo Dioscoridi nuper ex Egenolphi officina prodeunti attixuit". This booklet was printed in 1544 by Isangrin and sent to Frankfurt, so as to be sold there at the fair. Egenolff however had heard of this plan, and by an agent he bought up the whole edition. This of course increased Fuchs' rage and in 1545 he wrote a new leaflet, to which he gave the title: "Adversus mendacnes et christianos homines indignes Christiani Egenolphi cuique architecti columnae Leonh. Fuchsi medici responsio". Now the Marburg professor Janus Cornarius stood up and directed three pamphlets against Fuchs, which appeared in 1545 and 1546 at Egenolff's. The first one bears the title "Vulpacule excorista" (alluding to the name Fuchs = fox); it was followed by "Mitra no Brabyla, pro Vulpacule excoriste esservanda" and later by the so-called "Fuchseides III", which, apart from the first two pamphlets, contained a final section with the title "Vulpacules catastrophe, seu qui debet esse scopus, modus ac fructus contemptionum".
In spite of all these disputes, Fuchs really knew quite well, that the reason for the bad sale of his book was not competition by others, but its huge size and big price. So he made Isangrin copy the woodblocks in a smaller size, and these woodcuts, reduced to a height of some 120 cm and very neatly cut produce an excellent impression. They first appeared in pocket size in 1545, without text, only with their Latin and German names and arranged so that there was a separate page for each of the 516 plant-pictures. But Fuchs had to give vent to his rage and put in a preface, from which I quote, with some abbreviations, the following sentences:
"Two years ago I published in print a new herbal. But as this herbal, because of its size, can only be used at home, I have produced this handbook