Neu Vollkommenes Krauter-Buch

Cover of Mattioli's Krauter-Buch
Adoption Amount: $1,500
Category: Preserve for the Future
Location: Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History

Neu vollkommenes Krauter-Buch

By Pietro Andrea Mattioli. Basel: Gedruckt bey Johann-Jacob Decker, 1678.

Pietro Mattioli (1501-1577), a physician and botanist, first published his commentaries on the classic work on medical botany from antiquity – Dioscorides’ De materia medica – in 1544 in Italian.  He identified the plants that the ancient Greek had discussed as being medically useful and added dozens of new ones known from other parts of Europe.  Mattioli’s work was quickly translated into numerous European languages and re-published for more than a century as the standard text on the subject.  This edition – in German, dated 1678 – is evidence of the work’s enduring value.  This book was part of a gift of early works on medical botany and pharmacy donated to the Smithsonian by Squibb/Bristol Myers.

Condition and Treatment: 

This book is a late 17th century stiff vellum bound volume. The vellum is covered with a blue paper. The boards have warped and the spine is detaching.The first and last sections were previously repaired and heavily glued so that the pages are stuck together in the margins. The tetxblock has a significant amount of debris in the gutters. Conservators will brush the debris from the gutters. The first and last sections will be washed to remove the adhesive and previous repairs. They will then be re-attached to the textblock. The warped front board will be humidified to attempt to flatten it. A custom double tray box will be created for the binding.

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