VII] 



The Latin 'Herbarius' 



159 



figure illustrating an English book. It is reproduced in 

 Text-fig. 19. 



The illustrations to the Latin 'Herbarius' or 'Herbarius 

 Moguntinus,' published at Mainz in 1484 (Text-figs. 3, 4, 

 5. 7i), form the next group of botanical wood-cuts. The 

 figures are much better than those of the ' Herbarium' of 

 Apuleius, but at the same time they are, as a rule, formal 



IREOS VEL \K\S 



Text-fig. 74. " Ireos vel Iris " [Arnaldus de Villa Nova, Tractatus de 

 virtutibus herbarum, 1499]. 



and conventional, and often quite unrecognisable. The 

 want of realism is very conspicuous in such a drawing as 

 that of the Lily (Text-fig. 3), in which the leaves are repre- 

 sented as if they had no organic continuity with the stem. 

 Some of the figures are wonderfully charming, and in their 



