Lot 222
  • 222

Hortus Sanitatis

Estimate
100,000 - 150,000 USD
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Description

Ortus Sanitatis. Mainz: Jacob Meydenbach, 23 June 1491



Folio (11 7/8 x 8 1/8 in.; 302 x 206 mm). Double column, 48 lines plus headline. Collation: A–C8, D–Z, a–m6.8 (De herbis, m8v blank); [t8], v6 (De urinis); aa–hh6.8, ii–ll6 (De piscibus, De lapidibus); n-s8.6, t8 (De animalibus); v–z6.8, &8 (De avibus); A8, B–E6 (tables, colophon)=453 leaves, 7 full-page woodcuts, 1066 column-width woodcuts; without the final blank, washed, marginal worm holes in title repaired affecting columnar frame on left side of first woodcut, a few leaves lightly browned, a few marginal spots, leaf m7 supplied from another rubricated copy with upper margin extended, contemporary annotations in index. Half calf, gold-stamped title on spine, accompanied by the prior nineteenth-century morocco gilt binding with bookplates.

Provenance

Lord Amherst of Hackney (bookplate, De Ricci, Handlist 20) —Massachusetts Horticultural Society (bookplate, gift of J.D. Cameron Bradley in 1947)

Literature

HC 8944; Goff H-486; BMC I, 44; BSB-Ink H-388; CIBN H-294; Fairfax Murray, German 193; Schreiber 4247; Schramm XV, p. 7

Condition

Ortus Sanitatis. Mainz: Jacob Meydenbach, 23 June 1491 Folio (11 7/8 x 8 1/8 in.; 302 x 206 mm). Double column, 48 lines plus headline. Collation: A–C8, D–Z, a–m6.8 (De herbis, m8v blank); [t8], v6 (De urinis); aa–hh6.8, ii–ll6 (De piscibus, De lapidibus); n-s8.6, t8 (De animalibus); v–z6.8, &8 (De avibus); A8, B–E6 (tables, colophon)=453 leaves, 7 full-page woodcuts, 1066 column-width woodcuts; without the final blank, washed, marginal worm holes in title repaired affecting columnar frame on left side of first woodcut, a few leaves lightly browned, a few marginal spots, leaf m7 supplied from another rubricated copy with upper margin extended, contemporary annotations in index. Half calf, gold-stamped title on spine, accompanied by the prior nineteenth-century morocco gilt binding with bookplates.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

First edition of the most comprehensive and richly illustrated medical or natural history publication of the fifteenth century. The illustrations of plants number 530, there are 164 cuts of land animals, 122 of birds, 106 of sea creatures, and 144 of minerals. 

The Hortus Sanitatis was Meydenbach's first dated and most ambitious publication; his press seems to have ceased by 1496. His colophon notes that Mainz was the place where the most subtle art and science of printing was invented.