i6 



Fifteenth-Century Herbals 



[CH. 



3. The Latin Herbarius. 



The work to which we may refer for convenience as the 

 Latin Herbarius is also known under many other titles — 

 ' Herbarius in Latino,' 'Aggregator de Simplicibus,' ' Her- 

 barius Moguntinus,' ' Herbarius Patavinus,' etc. It was 

 originally printed at Mainz by Peter Schoffer in 1484, in the 

 form of a small quarto. It is interesting to recall that the 

 earliest specimen of printing from movable type known to 

 exist was produced in the same town thirty years before. 



Text-fig. 5. " Serpentaria " [Herbarius Moguntinus, 1484]. 



Other early editions and translations of the Herbarius 

 appeared in Bavaria, the Low Countries, Italy, and 

 probably also in France. The work, like most of the 

 early herbals, was anonymous, and was a compilation from 

 mediaeval writers, and from certain classical and Arabian 

 authors. It seems to have no connection with the 

 Herbarium of Apuleius, which is nowhere cited. The 

 majority of the authorities quoted wrote before 1300 a.d 

 and no author is mentioned who might not have been 



