HORTUS SANITATIS [ORTUS SANITATIS] – DE AVIBUS – HARPY, SWALLOW, GYRFALCON AND IBIS – ORIGINAL INCUNABLE WOODCUT LEAF – STRASBOURG, JOHANN PRÜSS – NOT AFTER 21 OCTOBER 1497

Description

Size: 28.7 x 19.5cm. An exceptionally attractive original incunable leaf from the first Strasbourg edition of the Hortus Sanitatis or Ortus Sanitatis, printed by Johann Prüss not later than 21 October 1497, containing part of the celebrated De Avibus or “On Birds” section and three substantial fifteenth-century woodcut illustrations. Of particular interest is Capitulum LXI, Arpia – the Harpy, a remarkable survival of medieval natural history in which the fabulous creature is treated alongside observable birds as part of the natural world. The text describes harpies as perpetually ravenous predatory birds armed with formidable curved claws, possessing the face of a human but none of human virtue, capable of extreme ferocity and, remarkably, sometimes of being domesticated and taught to speak with a human voice; it concludes by invoking Virgil’s account of the Harpies in Book III of the Aeneid. The Harpy woodcut itself belonged to the preceding page; the first woodcut on the present leaf instead introduces Capitulum LXII, Hyrundo – the Swallow, and shows a wonderfully animated flock of swallows wheeling around the towers and roofs of a substantial medieval building. The accompanying account discusses the swallow’s forked tail and colouring, its seasonal return as a herald of spring, its nesting in human dwellings, its ingenious use of straw, water, dust and mud in nest construction, and traditional beliefs concerning the lapis celidonius, a supposedly medicinal stone associated with the bird. The second woodcut introduces Capitulum LXIII, Erodios or Herodius, identified within the text as the girfalco or gyrfalcon. It is represented through a vigorous hunting scene in which a large raptor appears with a hound-like animal and long-eared quarry; rather than functioning as modern zoological illustration, the image reflects the narrative character of late-medieval natural history and the chapter’s discussion of the bird’s exceptional power and the use of trained dogs during the hunt. The third woodcut introduces Capitulum LXIIII, Ibis and depicts a long-legged, long-billed bird standing at the edge of water. Its text associates the ibis with Egypt, describes its relationship with serpents and discusses medieval attempts to distinguish the bird from the stork. The leaf consequently brings together the fabulous, the observed and the inherited authority of classical and medieval authors within a single remarkable example of fifteenth-century natural-history printing.

The Hortus Sanitatis was one of the great illustrated encyclopaedias of the incunable period, encompassing plants, terrestrial animals, birds, aquatic creatures, stones and minerals, medicine and uroscopy. First published at Mainz in 1491, the work represented one of the most ambitious attempts of the early printing era to gather the natural and medicinal world into a systematically illustrated reference work. This first Strasbourg edition contains more than 1,000 woodcuts, many deriving from or adapting the illustrations of the Mainz edition. The juxtaposition on this leaf of the mythical Harpy with swallows, a gyrfalcon and an ibis is particularly characteristic of the work’s intellectual world, in which classical mythology, medieval bestiary tradition, practical observation and medical lore existed side by side. Bibliographically the edition is [Strasbourg: Johann Prüss, not after 21 October 1497], and is recorded as ISTC ih00487000; GW 13550; Goff H487; BSB-Ink H-389. Institutional comparison with the digitised McGill University copy confirms the setting and sequence of the present leaf.

Condition

Very good condition for an original fifteenth-century incunable leaf. The paper remains sound with strong, dark impressions of both type and woodcuts. Some age-toning and scattered light spotting and marking are present, together with faint marginal staining and minor handling and edge wear consistent with a leaf more than five centuries old. Small early or later manuscript/pencil notation towards the upper margin. Broad margins remain and the printed areas are generally notably clean and well preserved. Uncoloured, allowing the quality and character of the original 1497 impressions to be clearly appreciated. Please examine the photographs carefully; the images form an important part of the condition description.

Printer

Johann Prüss, Strasbourg.

Date

Not after 21 October 1497.

Edition

First Strasbourg edition.

Section

Tractatus III: De Avibus et Volatilibus.

Subjects

Arpia – Harpy; Hyrundo – Swallow; Erodios / Herodius – identified in the text with the gyrfalcon; Ibis.

Illustration

Three original fifteenth-century woodcuts: swallows flying around and nesting amongst architecture; a stylised gyrfalcon/hunting scene with animals; and an ibis at the water’s edge.

Printing

Letterpress in Latin in Gothic type, double column, with woodcut illustrations.

Bibliographical References

ISTC ih00487000; GW 13550; Goff H487; BSB-Ink H-389; CIBN H-295; Klebs 509.3.

An original leaf from one of the major illustrated natural-history books of the fifteenth century, and particularly appealing for its extensive Harpy text, its explicit reference to Virgil’s Aeneid, and its three highly characteristic incunable woodcuts.

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