[Hortus sanitatis, German].

Gart der Gesundheit.

      Augsburg, Hans Schönsperger d. Ä., 5. VI. 1486. Folio (194:271 mm). Gothic type, 2 cols., 42 lines.257 unn. ff. [a-z8, A-D8, E6, F8, G-H6, J8-1 (lacks last blank f.)]. With page-size woodcut in bright original color on f. 1 verso, 394 contemp. coloured woodcuts in the text, and several red lombardic initials. Contemporary brown half calf over wooden boards, richly blindstamped and with brass fittings for two clasps on front cover. One of the earliest and rarest editions (the third according to Nissen, in fact probably the fourth) of the work first printed by Schöffer in Mainz in 1485, regarded as a "landmark in the history of botanical illustration, one which marked perhaps the greatest single step ever made in that art" (Hunt I, 5). Contains medical cures (in alphabetical order) drawn from plants, occasionally also from animals and minerals. The index is sorted by illnesses, thus facilitating the search for the proper ointments. All woodcuts were cut specially for this edition and were reused in several editions to follow. - Very rare; German auction records since 1950 list only two entries for a single, exceedingly incomplete copy; KVK records 5 copies in German libraries, only 1 of which is complete. Apparently intensively used copy with contemp. ms. marginalia throughout (occasionally slightly touched during 18th-c. rebinding) concerning the preparation of the various plants as well as their effect and the application of the ointments thus prepared. Occasional waterstaining (stronger in quires g, h, and y, which also show a few restored holes and tears in the paper). No loss to text or image (except ff. g6f., h1f., y3: slight loss to individual letters in up to four lines). Contemp. coloring slightly faded; 17 other ff. with contemp. restorations to wide blank margin. Binding from the shop of the Master of the Regensburg Half Bindings (Schunke II, 222): the spine is covered with that shop's characteristic mosaic of square stamps (Schunke 13); the covers are decorated with rhombic tendril designs (Schunke 127) and fleurs-de-lis (Schunke 311). Altogether a good, clean, and complete copy in attractive contemporary colour. GW M09754. Hain 8951*. Goff G-100. ISTC ig00100000. Sudhoff (Dt. med. Inkunabeln) 69. Choulant (Graph. Incunabeln) 6. Klebs 507.5. Schreiber 4335. IGI 4906. Nissen BBI 2268. Not in Pritzel.