Feradus, Nicholaus (& others)

Herbal in Italian and Latin: followed by notes and extracts on urines, an uncompleted dictionary of diseases and remedies, medical receipts, etc. Mainly the compiler's holograph MS., but with additions by several early 16th cent. hands. There are two watermarks on the paper, variants of the bull's-head and serpent entwined round a pole, one surmounted by a cross, the other by a five-petalled flower. These appear to be Nos. 15376 and 15394 of Briquet, and are assigned to Venice 1479-92. Illustrated by 283 rough drawings of medicinal plants, of which 251 are coloured in water-colour, some partly coloured: there are also a number of pen-drawings of urine flasks. On fol. 90 is a remarkable illustration of a Mandrake showing the male and female plant, a dog with a rope attached to one of them, and a youth in 15th cent. costume blowing a horn. Many of the plant illustrations are accompanied by notes in Latin or Italian on their virtues and uses. Ff. 1-8 Index by Ferandus, with additions by a later hand.

c. 1500-1525

1 volume 328 ll. Folio. 31 x 21 cm. Modern vellum binding. The following leaves are wanting according to the present foliation: between ff. 145/6, 2 leaves; between 177/8, 4ll.; between 190/1, 267/8, are slightly damaged or worn, and some of the illustrations have suffered from a deterioration of the paper (due to high content of copper green).

Purchased 1910.

Database description transcribed from S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973).

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