Ortus sanitatis.

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Accession number: 
PML 113
Uniform title: 
Hortus sanitatis. Latin.
Published: 
[Strasbourg] : [Johann Prüss], [about 1507]
Description: 
[360] leaves : illus. (woodcuts) ; 31cm (fol.)
Credit Line: 
Gift of Junius S. and Henry S. Morgan, 1952.
Notes: 

Title from half-title page (leaf a1r).
Proctor (1448 = 1449) assigned to Quentell in Cologne, BM STC (German, p. 418) to Prüss in Strassburg. BM STC (German) treated as 16th century, and CIBN (II, p. 48) and Fairfax Murray (German, 194) date about 1507. Goff dates about 1499 (ISTC). GW note: "Because of layout and type, not before 1507."
Collation: a⁸ b-k⁶ l⁸ m-r⁶ s⁸ t-z⁶ A⁶ B⁸ C-E⁶ F⁸ G-I⁶; K⁸ L-M⁶ N⁸ O-R⁶ S⁸ T-Z⁶ Aa-Bb⁶ Cc⁸ Dd-Ee⁶ Ff⁸; Gg⁶ Hh⁴; Ii-Ll⁶: 360 leaves.
Paper format: Chancery folio. Watermarks include star (not in Briquet or Piccard), crown (unidentified), Bull's head-moon (Piccard II, XIV 31: Braunschweig, Celle, Gosler, Wolfenbüttel, 1506-09), and Glove-star (Piccard XVII, IV 1214 and 1238: Strassburg, 1508).
On the text, see Verfasserlexicon IV, 154-63.
Onion woodcut (leaf g4r) damaged by impression of fallen type (20 x 6 mm) with angled foot. Damage happened during production of Prüss's first edition, not after 21 Oct. 1497 (PML 63 without damage to woodcut). On fallen type, see Claire Bolton, "Fallen Type: A Catalogue," Journal of the Printing Historical Society, third series, no. 2 (2021): 29-68, Hortus sanitatis not included.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 30.7 x 21 cm.
Checklist number changed from 144A to 144C in January 1992 by George Fletcher with the purchase of PML 127250, Ordo missae, [1499-1500], which became 144A.
PML with a single leaf (leaf a5) from leaf-book, The garden of health (Book Club of California, 1957), in reference collection, 419.2 S5.

Binding: 
Contemporary German blind- and panel-stamped calf over beveled (chamfered) boards (32.5 x 22cm), sewn on 5 supports, rebacked. Panels depict St. Catherine (front, 12.2 x 7.7cm) and St. Margaret (rear, 12 x 8cm) on checkerboard floors and in front of floral backgrounds. Plain paper pastedowns and flyleaves; decorative endbands. 2 clasps, wanting; brass catch plates with concentric circles around outer nail.
Variant Title: 

Hortus sanitatis.

Inscriptions/Markings: 

Hand decoration: No rubrication required. Annotations: A few of the plant woodcuts are labled in German in a contemporary hand. Manuscript titles on foredge: "Herbarius sive hortus sanitatis" and "Herbarius".

Provenance: 
Ludolph Christian Treviranus (1779-1864), signature, "Treviranus P" (front fly leaf recto), he refers to this book in his Die anwendung des holzschnittes zur bildlichen darstellung von pflanzen, 1855, pp. 5-6; his sale, Bonn, Lempertz, 22 May 1865; [F.S.?] Ellis, bookseller, Nov. 30, 1867, £4, pencil note (front pastedown); Bernard Quaritch, bookseller, pencil notes (front fly recto and rear pastedown); Pierpont Morgan, purchased from Quaritch in 1905, given to Mrs. Morgan in 1922 (Mrs. Morgan's collection), and then given back to the library by Junius S. and Henry S. Morgan, 10 November 1952.
Classification: 
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