Herbarium of 1517 - Post-incunabulum - CERNÝ (Jan).... Lot 23

Herbarium of 1517 - Post-incunabulum - CERNÝ (Jan). Knieha lekarska kteraz slowe herbarz : aneb zelinarz: welmi vziteczna: z mnohych knieh latinskych. y zskutecznych praczij wybrana : poczina se sstiastnie. Nuremberg], Mikulás Klaudyán, 1517, 4°, CXXIX folios, 17 unencrypted pages [including the back of the last folio] including the Table and full-page illustration (figure in front of an oven), 6 pages (3 folios) of these 17 pages are missing, they were copied calligraphically, 1 to 3 plants drawn per page and enhanced in colour (at the time?), modern full vellum, smooth spine, calligraphic title on the spine and front cover. A few rare copies have survived, very rarely in good condition (3 in the USA, 2 in the Czech Republic, 1 in Sweden). Our copy has been completely restored, which implies many small lacks, reinforced margins with loss of text, numerous wet spots, and recopied pages. The first original illustrated herbal in the post-incunabula period after 1501 was "Knieha lekarska" by the Bohemian physician Jan Cerný (c.1456-1530), written in Czech but printed in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1517. This work is missing in nearly all histories of illustrated herbals and, if mentioned, it is never systematically evaluated. Mikulás Klaudyán (died 1522) was a physician and scholar in Mladá Boleslav, Bohemia and member of the Unity of the Brethren. He printed the oldest map of Bohemia (1518). He was in close contact with printers in Nürnberg. This work is missing in nearly all histories of illustrated herbals and, if mentioned, it is never systematically evaluated.