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Books, Autographs & Prints

Friday 15 December 2023, 11:00 AM • Rome

38

Botanica - Macer Floridus (o Emilio), [pseudonimo di Odo di Meung?]

Herbarum varias qui vis cognoscere vires huc Macer adest, 1515

Estimate

€ 500 - 700

Sold

€ 1.290

The price includes buyer's premium

Information

[Paris: Exaratus pro Petro Baquelier, c 1515] In 8°. 159 leaves (out of 160, a1 is missing), with 66 woodcut engravings in the text, some handwritten notes, slight halo on the external margin of the first and last leaves, hardback binding, handwritten title on the spine, light halo on the plates, small stains.  ;

Specialist Notes

Fascinating herbarium, with figures engraved in wood.
French writer who lived in the first half of the 11th century. Among other things, a Latin poem in hexameters, 'De viribus herbarum', is attributed to him, written under the pseudonym of Macer Floridus or even Aemilius Macer, the latter being a real author who died in 16 BC. Includes commentary by Guillaume Guéroult and the same preliminaries as the Caen edition of 1509. The illustrations are the same as the Paris edition of 1511 without the commentary.
Uncommon edition of the "first printed herbalism text which refers exclusively to the medicinal properties of plants" (Stillwell Awakening 442, on ed. 1477). This popular medieval didactic poem deals with the properties of over 87 plants and is accompanied by commentary by Guillaume Guéroult, professor of medicine at Caen. The woodcuts present here are close copies of the Gart der Gesundheit series (and therefore of the Arbolayre/Grant herbier). Authorship is attributed to an unknown Macer, identified as Odo de Meung, a medieval French doctor. By analogy: Adams O-60; Choulant, pp.240-241; Durling NLM 2890.