The first printed herbal!
De Viribus Herbarum
Macer Floridus
WHO ACTUALLY WROTE IT??
•Opening
line in Herbal claims it was written by Macer.
•Only
Macer connected with Herbal writing died in 16 BC
•Most
scholars believe Odo,
Bishop of Meung was
the true author.
•Odo’s name
appears on a 12th Century Manuscript of De Viribus Herbarum,
located in Dresden.
•A 13th Century Manuscript is titled, De Viribus Herbarum acutore Odone dicto
Macro Floridio or
Of the Power of Herbs, the author being Odo, Called Macer of Flowers.
•Others
that could have been the author include, Odo Veronesis, Odo Muremundensis and
Hugo of Tours.
•Original
Manuscript, De Viribus Herbarum, not
extant.
•Earliest
extant Manuyscript,
Opus Macri Physici de Viribus Herbarum, now
in Vienna.
•1st Edition Published in 1477 by printer Arnaldus de Bruxella in
Naples.
•Written
in Latin Verse.
•First
Edition was unillustrated.
•Contained
originally 77 Herbs
•First
edition with illustrations published in 1482 in Milan.
•Some
versions contain 86 plants, and some as many as 97.
•The
Latin Verse it is written in, a hexameter, a poetic verse form, that some
believe was used as a mnemonic device for physicians and apothecaries.
•Most
of the content is derived from Pliny, but also included are Dioscorides, Oribasus,
Hippocrates and others. (23 in all according to Ludwig Choulant)
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