farfel_n02_119_108

(108)
May '80
Madliger - Schwab
40 SF = $24.54
Gart der Gesundheit (Hortus Sanitatis)
See #299

Basel : Michael Furter , about 1486 f.o	Chapters 240 &41 242 & 3

Cop. Metro . M. of Art, Dept of Prints , N.Y.C. - colored
Yale Univ. Historical Lib. of the Med. School , New Haven Conn.
folio , 224 leaves , 1st blank , 2 columns (t ables 3 )
Type G 93 text 43 - 44 lines Illustrations .
(New) Initial floreated letters , white on black ground , square , - double frame line
at beginning of most chapters, the S formed of a dragon, the rest - foliage
leaf 119 med. text type ( 92, 93A,93B in BMC)
This extremely rare & only herbal that was printed in Switzerland
before 1500 is a nearly exact reprint of Gruninger's edition,
(about 1486, Klebs 507.3) showing only a sl. variations of
orthography etc. Furter adds for the 1st time pretty
florated woodcut initials . CCXLIIII - Lingua auis/
ccxxxlx - Laudanuein gumi \ fogels
Michael Furter - the earliest books both signed and dated - 1490
But he is mentioned as a printer as early as 15 Jan. 1483
when he bought a house in Basel. He continued printing
regularly in the 16th C. & died in 1517. Printed over 70 incunabula
- printed the letter of Christopher Columbus at Basel in 1493.
- To the medieval practitioner, the knowledge of the medical
& magical properties of precious stones was nearly as
essential as that of herbs
That M. Furter was a native of Augsburg could not be
deduced from his Types - as a printer, he certainly wholly
belongs to Basel . He was not a learned book printer but
seems [crossed out]to[end crossed out] at the beginning To have worked as a bookbinder
& also a factor . Without exception ,his founts are taken
from types of other Basel printers.
- much knowledge of precious stones had been derived from
Egyptian & Arab sources.