Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Der Gart Gesundhiet -- Peter Schoeffer

Der Gart Gesundhiet

Peter Schoeffer
Born 1425 – Died 1503
Born in Gernsheim, Germany, located on the Rhine.
Died in Mainz, in antiquity, it was a Roman fort city, which commanded the west bank of the Rhine
An early German printer.



In 435 chapters, 382 plants, 25 drugs from the animal kingdom and 28 minerals are described.
Included a section of Uroscopy.
Published for Bernhard von Breidenbach (1440-1497), a wealthy Mainzer canon.
The author (compiler) of Gart was the Frankfurt city physician Johann Wonnecke of Kaub (1430-1503 / 04).
Erhard Reuwich of Utrecht had some of the illustrations made.

1st Edition 1485


For the first time in Germany Latin and Greek were abandoned and it was published in German.
This herbal relied not on the work of the previous illustrators, but the illustrations were from observation of the plants in nature.

Out of the 379 woodcuts, around 65 are based on the plants themselves which was a high propotion at the time. 



Der Gart was written in a way to make it easier for the readers to navigate. It offered its readers an alphabetical listing of every disease or ailment known and then a reference to the chapter to find the remedy.
A list of the simples included where listed alphabetically as well as by their chapter numbers.
Considered a great work that contained all the medical knowledge of the time. 




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