Erbario Figurato - Hoepli 1943

I ordered a real beautiful Herbal. Actually I am changing a little my perspective of this blog. It was born as a sharing opportunity for (Italian) Herbals of Middleage and their study, but with the time and the love for plants and their representation I opted (with this first blog) to extend it also to herbals that were simply  published also in recent times.
The only temporal time I am going to have is not to exceed the IIWW period (1945).

Hence I just received today an original of Erbario Figurato of Hoepli dating 1943.

As you can see this is the third edition with 80 drawings in colours and 283 black and white engravings.

Considering that the book was written during the Fascism (as you can see next to the date, 1943 the Author added  - as it was colpulsory at the epoch - the XXI Roman number, i.e. the 21st year after the rise of Fascism in Italy) the Author extended the investigation on folwers and species growing also in North Africa (Libia) and East Africa (Etiopia, Somaliland and Eritrea) at the epoch part of the Italian Colonies.

An exemple of a black/white drawings

I would like to show the fantastic pictures I found at the end of the Herbal. Really they astonished me for their beauty.

Top: 1 Punica Granatum L. (Melograno) 2 Hedera Helix L.

Top: 2 Rosa Canina

Top: 1 Convallaria majalis L.       2. Ruscus aculeatus L.

Top: 1 Colchicum autunnale L.  2 Veratrum album L. 

Thank you to the Biblioteca Universitaria di Padova

I am going on with my collection of herbals all around Europe. A big thanks before all to the Biblioteca Universitaria di Padova - Ministero dei Beni e della Attività Culturali e del Turismo that provided me a copy of an ancient Herbal to study it. I will come back with some details in my future blogs.

I really appreciated the opening of culture also to not "real" students.Thanks again! Grazie

Michele SAVASTA FIORE de PACTIS

Italian Herbal - Vermont Manuscript "Herba Rafano"

I went on with rafano; Here the original

The text is quite interestig. The 2 figures quite simple, while I like the scorpion and the drake.
I started to reproduce above all the plant and the figures, all together.
Here the result:

I added the long text and I have to admit the calligraphy I used pleased me. The result:

And then the final:

I would like now to compare some original figures with those reproduced in the XXI Century Manuscript.

The Drake:

Italian Herbal - Vermont Manuscript - Text reading "Erba Aristrologia lungha"

Let's try to read together this part of text of the Vermont Manuscript

http://cdi.uvm.edu/page/uvmcdi55338

"ERBA ASTROLOGIA LUNGHA LA QUALE FA DIFFERENZA DALLA TONDA E DA LA MINORE SOLO NELLA RADICE PERCHE' FA LA RADICE SUA PIU' LUNGHA ET SEME NERO. EL FIORE NERO CHOME LA TONDA. ET VALE COME E' A SALDARE FERITE. ET ALTRI MALORI. CHOME LA TONDA FA EL SUO CESTO SOPRA LA FACCIA DELLA TERRA SPARSO. NASCE IN LUOGHI DOMESTICHI ET LUOGHI DI PIANO. NON E' TANTO CALDA COME LA STROLOGIA TONDA ET E' AMARISSIMA ET VALE CONTRO A VELENO ET MORSI VELENOSI"


It is quite interesting to note some particularities of the writing of the epoch, above all some shortenings:

In this last case a simple Italian preposition "contro" is written with a "9" meaning "con" + the final "tro" to build the total "contro".

(Reading interpretation by Michele SAVASTA FIORE de PACTIS)

Italian Herbal - Vermont Manuscripts

After 1 year I am back with my idea to (re)write the Vermont manuscript in the XXI Century with all its drawings.
I finished around 12 months ago with the Erba Aristrologia

Here the original:

I couldn't put all 3 drowning in the same sheet, so I opted for 2 different sheets. The first I did 1 year ago, the rest just now. I was afraid it could be possible to see the differences in my hand.

Last year:

This year: 

and its preparation

The text of the last plant is:

ARISTROLOGIA RITONDA GRECE DA APISTORI ET FETALOGORI ET EST FEMINA. E LA RADICE GRANDE CHOME TARTUFO ET SONO QUASI GIALLI. VALE A MORSI VELENOSI ET CONTRA VELENO ET DOLORE DI CORPO ET LA SUA RADICE COTTA IN OLIO ET POSTA ALLA NUCHA DEL COLLO TOGLE EL DOLORE ET COSI' D'OGNE NERBO ET D'OGNI LUOGHO.

Magical Manuscript XXI Century - Iris

One of my other passion is to write manuscripts i.e. herbals on aged pages; the one I am writing now is a Magical Manuscript whose title - in Latin - is: De Arte Magica cum Herbis that means "On the magic art through herbs". It's simply a collection of old texts concerning some rituals or beliefs of the past, with a flower painted on it. What matters for me is simply the artistic view of this.

Magical Manuscript XXI Century

My passion for flowers lays not only in the real flowers but also in their meaning through myths and magical spells. In this world where internet dominates our lives, I go back to recreating a magical manuscript about the flowers.

After the Iris (see my previous post) this time I drew a Daffodil, or Narcissus, with a magical text next.

This is a Narcissus Poeticus, i.e. the most parfumed kind of Daffodil, usually cultivated in France and now also in Piedmont (see my previous blogs)

Here I reproduced this flower, that represents the meaning of death and resurrection together. In magic this flower is deeply linked to the Iris, because their similar magical meaning and their fantastic scent.