mattioli’s dioscorides illustrated by cibo

MATTIOLI’S DIOSCORIDES ILLUSTRATED BY CIBO

Ruscus hypoglossum L., Spineless Butcher’s Broom, f. 135r

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The Val-Dieu ApocalypseTHE BRITISH LIBRARY • LONDON

This illuminated Apocalypse manuscript is remarkable first and foremost for the exquisite palette of its illustrations and the minute detail of the visions it depicts from the Book of the Revelation.

This codex made in Normandy fea-tures the Apocalypse text in Latin and French beneath enchantingly refined illustrations, each spanning half a page, with incredibly sophisticated hues. An-other outstanding feature of its illustra-tions is the truly singular style of their portraits and scenes. The almost physical realism of the figures makes the fantastic Apocalypse scenes seem almost tangible. The Val-Dieu Apocalypse with its dream-like realism features an iconographic cycle whose painstaking artistry and im-pressive elegance are truly breathtaking.

Shelf mark: Add. Ms. 17333Date: c. 1330Size: ± 325 × 225 mm; ± 12.8 × 8.9 in108 pages, 83 miniatures illuminated with goldGreen leather binding. Inside cover in red leather with gold motifsFull-colour commentary volume, written (428 p.) by D. Burrows (University of Oxford), K. Griffiths (Cal Poly Pomona) and N. J. Morgan (University of Cambridge)

First, unique and unrepeatable edition limited to 987 copies numbered and certified by notary public

The Second Angel sounds his Trumpet: The Mountain of Fire falls on the Sea, f. 11r

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Picture book of the L ife of St John and the Apocalypse

THE BRITISH LIBRARY • LONDON

This manuscript exuding modernity evolved from the English tradition of illuminated Apocalypses and was an outstanding forerunner of the woodcut Apocalypses that flourished in Europe in the latter half of the 15th century.

Produced in c. 1400, probably in southern Netherlands, its iconographic cycle includes a preamble and epilogue consisting of an unusual series of illustra-tions about the life of St John the Evan-gelist. Hence, the revelations made to the saint are framed by scenes of his persecu-tion, exile, miracles, last mass and death.

The illustration of this unusual manuscript, in addition to being very abundant, features a particular palette, innovative style and liveliness that make it strikingly attractive whilst its vignettes are extraordinarily engaging and eloquent.

Shelf mark: Add. Ms. 38121Date: c. 1400Size: ± 320 × 200 mm; ± 12.6 × 7.9 in100 pages, 94 miniatures illuminated with goldBrown leather bindingFull-colour commentary volume, written by R. K. Emmerson (Florida State University), B. Hunter (Florida State University) and P. Kidd (Bodleian Library and British Library)


The Opening of the First and Second Seals, f. 7v

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The Livre de la Chasse (Book of the Hunt) was written by Gaston Fébus, count of Foix and expert huntsman. For many years this treatise was famous for both the quality of its hunting lessons and its extraordinary illuminations: a mas-terpiece of early-fifteenth-century man-uscript production in Paris, and one of the very few educational books to be il-lustrated as lavishly as a Bible.

Besides the lessons it contains, this treatise also presents hunting as a re-deeming exercise enabling hunters to go straight to Heaven by endowing them with an upright body and mind. The dif-ferent renowned artists who worked on this manuscript placed their art at the service of Gaston Fébus’s desire to teach, thereby setting out not merely a lesson of hunting but a lesson of life.

Shelf mark: Français 616Date: early 15th c.Size: 380 × 280 mm; 15 × 11 in436 pages, 87 illuminationsBound in gilt and embossed Morocco leatherFull-colour commentary volume (496 p.) by Y. Christe (Université de Genève), C. Pailhès (Archives Départementales de l’Ariège), and I. Villela-Petit (Bibliothèque nationale de France). Foreword by C. d’Anthenaise (Musée de la chasse et de la nature)

L ivre de la chasse, by Gaston Fébus

BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE • PARIS

What manner and conditions a good hunter should have, f. 51v

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In this remarkable codex, the artist and botanist Gherardo Cibo compiled a se-lection of botanical and medical texts from the Discorsi by the famous Renais-sance physician Pietro Andrea Mattioli, and illustrated them with more than 160 splendid miniatures of plants and land-scapes.

In his Discorsi, Mattioli translated Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica (1st cen-tury AD) into Italian and added lengthy comments. In doing so, he updated an-cient medical knowledge and made it available to people not familiar with clas-sical languages.

A masterpiece that will delight lovers of medicine, botany and painting alike.

Shelfmark: Add. Ms. 22332Date: c. 1564-1584Size: ± 265 x 195 mm370 pages, 168 illustrations Bound in gold-tooled dark-brown leatherFull-colour commentary volume by Peter Kidd (Bodleian Library and The British Library), Ramón Morales Valverde (Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid), Vivian Nutton (University College London) and Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi (Università di Pisa)

Mattioli’s Dioscorides illustrated by Cibo


Senecio vulgaris L., Groundsel, f. 57r

A look at botanical science from the perspective of art, medicine and respect for nature

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Albumazar treatise (Liber Astrologiae)


The Albumazar Treatise is one of the most fascinating picture books of the Middle Ages. The text consists of fragments of the writings of the greatest Arab astrol-oger of all times, Albumazar, translated by the legendary Toledo school of trans-lators.

This treatise is significant because it condenses the astral mythology of the great civilizations of Egypt, Greece, Persia and India into a single lavishly il-lustrated book for the very first time. Its breathtaking iconographic cycle features not only unusual forms of the planets and the signs of the zodiac of Greek or-igin, but also a series of rather discon-certing images of constellations devised by different oriental cultures to pinpoint the position of the stars.

Astrology had a lasting effect on almost all fields of medieval knowledge. In the late Middle Ages, astrology was

taught in Europe’s great schools of med-icine which regarded a knowledge of ce-lestial positions as essential for medical prognosis.

Shelf mark: Sloane Ms. 3983Date: mid 14th c.Size: ± 270 × 186 mm; ± 10.6 × 7.3 in102 pages, 72 full-page miniaturesBound in gold-tooled, red leatherFull-colour commentary volume by Dieter Blume (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena), Manuel Toharia (Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias), Charles Burnett (The Warburg Institute), Peter Kidd (Bodleian Library and British Library) and Aurelio Pérez Jiménez (Universidad de Málaga)

First, unique and unrepeatable edition limited to 987 copies numbered and certified by notary public F. 25v

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The Golf Book (Book of Hours)


Running along the bottom of the pag-es in the calendar is a series of images that have always been of great interest. They depict sports activities and other pastimes typical of the period when the manuscript was made. One of the games portrayed is golf, the reason why this book is also known as the Golf Book.

The codex must have been an ex-tremely lavish manuscript since it was executed by the greatest Flemish painter in the first half of the 16th century, Simon Bening, with the help of his atelier. He worked for the most important royal households, particularly in Spain and Portugal, and also different members of the highest-ranking members of the no-bility and clergy, such as cardinal Albert of Brandenburg.

Shelf mark: Add. Ms. 24098Date: c. 1530Size: ± 220 × 145 mm; ± 8.7 × 5.7 in60 pages, most of them with full-page illuminationsBound in blue leatherFull-colour commentary volume (256 p.) by Carlos Miranda García-Tejedor (Ph. D. in History)


A luxurious manuscript of captivating loveliness

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This book of hours is so magnificent that its royal owner, Henry IV of France, had his arms stamped on its front and back covers.

It is obvious upon opening this manuscript that it is a unique and out-standing work, a manuscript that literally shines with a thousand lights – the least one can say about a codex whose every page of text has a gilded ground. The margins are delicately and stylishly dec-orated with foliage motifs.

The lavish iconographic cycle with its purple and golden highlights, consist-ing of more than sixty paintings inspired by the New Testament, is a rare – and remarkable – example of grisaille illumi-nation from the turn of the 16th century.

The style is very similar to that of works produced in the atelier of the Master of Petrarch’s Triumphs, a prolific Parisian illuminator influenced by Jean Bourdichon and Jean Poyer.

Shelf mark: Latin 1171Date: c. 1510Size: 225 × 155 mm; 8.9 × 6.1 in180 pages, 60 full-page grisaille miniatures, 16 small pen-and-ink miniaturesBound in Morocco leatherFull-colour commentary volume (264 p.) by Caroline Zöhl (Universität Wien) and Carlos Miranda García-Tejedor (Ph .D. in History)


Hours of Henry IV of France


Job’s wife and musicians, f. 59r

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The Hours of Henry VIII, Jean Poyer’s mas-terpiece, receives its name from King Henry VIII of England, second monarch of the House of Tudor. This codex, en-dowed with an unparalleled dramatic force fitting for the most passionate and fascinating monarch in English history, is known to have belonged to a series of later English kings. For example, there is proof that between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it still belonged to the library of George III.

Jean Poyer’s career as a painter was short, from 1483 to 1503, but he was fa-mous for being a master colourist and a ge-nius at composition and perspective. Both Poyer and Bourdichon, painter of the Great Hours of Anne of Brittany, were amongst the finest illuminators in the early sixteenth century and helped keep the art of illumi-nation at its peak of excellence.

Shelf mark: MS H.8Date: c. 1500Size: ± 265 × 182 mm; ± 10.4 × 7.2 in400 pages with 55 full-page miniaturesBound in red velvet with claspsFull-colour commentary volume (236 p.) by Roger S. Wieck (The Morgan Library & Museum)


The Hours of Henry VIII

THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM • NEW YORK

The Trinity; border with angels, f. 171r

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The Hours of Charles of Angoulême


This book of hours commissioned for Charles, Count of Angoulême (the fa-ther of Francis I of France) is undeniably Robinet Testard’s most personal work. Testard, one of France’s most creative painters, drew upon his boundless im-agination to create a totally novel work. The calendar scenes on the opening pag-es are surprisingly original. Testard also portrays exotic landscapes, botanical el-ements, an acrostic featuring animated figures more typical of alphabet books, and even combines mythology and reli-gion in rather peculiar ways. Testard’s compositions in the Passion cycle are inspired by engraving techniques, and the intense, vivid colours in his paint-ings bring the scenes alive. And if this manuscript defying prevailing trends was still not original enough, it even fea-tures a miniature by Bourdichon (none

other than the master of the Great Hours of Anne of Brittany!)

Shelf mark: Latin 1173Date: c. 1485Size: ± 215 × 155 mm; ± 8.5 × 6.1 in230 pages, 38 full-page miniaturesRed leather binding with gilt borderFull-colour commentary volume (216 p.) by Maxence Hermant and Séverine Lepape (BnF)

Ave Maria Gracia Plena, f. 52r

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CLONING THE HOURS OF CHARLES OF ANGOULÊME

Example of the different phases in colour quality control: comparing proofs with originals and marking up corrections for greater accuracy; final check against the test folio.

Checking the page size of the test folio against the original.

Comparing test folios with the original manuscript.

Book of TreasuresNATIONAL LIBRARY OF RUSSIA • ST PETERSBURG

Encyclopaedia by Brunetto Latini, a Flor-entine politician, poet, historian and phi-losopher, teacher and friend of Dante’s. Written in French during the author’s exile in France (1260-1267). It consists of three books: the first begins with the biblical history, the history of Troy, Rome and the Middle Ages, followed by a natu-ral history: a comprehensive compilation of information about astronomy and geography. It also addresses certain an-imal and bird species in depth. The sec-ond book concerns ethics: it features the thinking of modern and classical moral-ists, and studies the vices and virtues that characterise humanity. The third book, the most original part of this work, deals with matters related to politics and the art of government which is, according to the author, the most important and no-blest of all sciences.

Shelf mark: Fr. F. v. III, 4.Date: early 14th c.Size: ± 310 x 220 mm.298 pages and 115 miniatures.Bound in brown leather with mosaic motifs.Leather case.Full-colour commentary volume (500p.) by V.N. Zaitsev (Director of the National Library of Russia, St Petersburg), L.I. Kisseleva (National Library of Russia, St Petersburg), I.P. Mokretsova (State Research Institute for Restoration (GosNIIR)), W.B. Clark (Marlboro College) and G.Z. Bykova, V.N. Kiréyeva (State Research Institute for Restoration (GosNIIR)).

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The fortuitous discovery of the Vindel Parchment was a landmark in the history of Galician-Portuguese troubadour poet-ry. It not only contains seven cantigas de amigo, a complete work attributed to the Galician composer and performer Mar-tin Codax, but is also the only document to feature the music of six of these canti-gas. Hence this parchment is doubly valu-able because it features the only cantigas de amigo known to have a musical score.

Cantigas de amigo are the most orig-inal genre of medieval Galician lyric poetry. In these short, lively ballads, a maiden in love sings – alone or accom-panied by other women – about her life, hopes and sorrows, and sometimes about nature too. The waves in the sea near Vigo are highly symbolic in Martin Cod-ax’s ballads, imbuing his lyrics with great eroticism.

Shelf mark: MS. M979Date: latter half of the 13th centurySize: 452 x 336 mmFull-colour companion volume (318 p.) directed by Mariña Arbor (Universidad de Santiago), Antonio Calvia (Fondazione Ezio Franceschini), Antonio Ciaralli (Università degli Studi di Perugia), Rip Cohen (John Hopkins University), and Simone Marcenaro (Università degli Studi di Milano). Foreword by emeritus professor Harvey L. Sharrer (University of California).

Vindel ParchmentTHE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM • NEW YORK

Lazzat al-nisâ (The pleasures of women)


In Muslim India numerous treatises were written on sexology. Many of them included prescriptions concerning prob-lems dealing with virility or, more pre-cisely, with masculine sexual arousal. The Sanskrit text which is considered the primary source for all Persian trans-lations is known as the Koka Shastra (or Ratirahasya). The Lazzat al-nisâ is a Persian translation of the Koka Shastra which contains descriptions of the four different types of women and indicates the days and hours of the day in which each type is more prone to love. The author quotes all the different works he has consulted, which have not survived to this day.

Shelf mark: Suppl. persan 1804Date: 18th c.Size: 160 × 225 mm; 6.3 × 8.9 in200 pages and 51 miniaturesBound in gilt and embossed leatherFull-colour commentary volume (204 p.) by Hormoz Ebrahimnejad (University of Southampton), Willem Floor (Independent researcher) and Hasan Javadi (University of California, Berkeley)

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The Book of FelicityBIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE • PARIS

This Book of Felicity features descriptions of the twelve signs of the zodiac accom-panied by splendid miniatures; a series of paintings showing how human circum-stances are influenced by the planets; as-trological and astronomical tables; and an enigmatic treatise on fortune telling.

All the paintings seem to be by the same workshop under the guidance of the famous master Ustad ‘Osman, un-doubtedly the artist of the opening series of paintings dedicated to the signs of the zodiac.

Murad III, who held illuminated manuscripts in great esteem, commis-sioned this treatise of felicity especially for his favourite daughter Fatima.

Shelf mark: Suppl. turc 242Date: 1582Size: 310 × 210 mm; 12.2 × 8.3 in286 pages and 71 full-page miniatures lavishly embellished with goldTurkish binding in red leather with gold decoration Full-colour commentary volume (448 p.) by Miguel Ángel de Bunes Ibarra (CSIC), Evrim Türkçelik, Günsel Renda (Prof. of Ottoman Art, Koç University), Stefano Carboni (The MET), and Yorgos Dedes (SOAS, University of London)

Sinbad and the Old Man of the Sea, f. 79v

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Herbal manuscripts preserve ancient Greek and Arabic writings describing the medical uses of plants. The major texts were translated into Latin in the Middle Ages and often illustrated. The variety of names used for a single plant in differ-ent cultures sometimes led to confusion; to avoid this risk, botanical albums such as this were produced, featuring pictures of the plants and other simples used in everyday therapeutic practices together with the various names they were called by the different peoples that comprised me-dieval society. This mid-fifteenth century manuscript contains an alphabetical list of simples (remedies derived from single nat-ural resources) captioned with the plant’s name and synonym, or a translation of its Arabic name.

A richly illustrated codex with practically no text such as this one may have been made for book collectors as well as for medicinal use.

Shelf mark: Sloane Ms. 4016Date: 1440Size: 380 × 260 mm; 15 × 10.2 in218 pages, all illuminatedBound in embossed, dark green leatherFull-colour commentary volume (512 p.) by Alain Touwaide (Smithsonian Institution)

Tractatus de HerbisTHE BRITISH LIBRARY • LONDON

A treatise on medicine whose images speak louder than words

Princes and powerful figures learned the rules of hygiene of the rational medicine of the late Middle Ages on the Tacuinum Sanitatis.

It concerns the six elements neces-sary for maintaining one’s daily health: food and drink, air, movement and rest, sleep and wakefulness, secretions and ex-cretions, changes and states of mind.

Each page features a miniature and a legend stating its nature, character-istics of what is deemed to be better or preferable for human health, the benefit it offers, any adverse effects it may have and the remedy for such adverse effects.

First, unique and unrepeatable edition limited to 987 copies numbered

and certified by notary public

Shelf mark: Ms. Lat 9333Date: mid-15th c.Size: 355 × 225 mm; 14 × 8.9 in216 pages, all illuminated Bound in embossed ivory colour leatherFull-colour commentary volume (320 p.) by Alain Touwaide (Smithsonian Institution), Eberhard König (Freie Universität Berlin) and Carlos Miranda García-Tejedor (Doctor in History)

Tacuinum SanitatisBIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE • PARIS

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Cardeña BeatusMUSEO ARQUEOLÓGICO NACIONAL • MADRID

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART • NEW YORK

The Cardeña Beatus is the work of two miniaturists and one of the most lavish, artistically elaborate and finest quality co-dices in its stemma (Family II, branch B).

Its 51 extant miniatures are extreme-ly beautiful and a reflection of the skill, subtlety and meticulousness of the artists who illustrated the commentary by Bea-tus. The entire manuscript is character-ised on the one hand by elaborate and delicate representations of figures, and on the other, by the vivid and intense colours of the grounds, all lavishly embel-lished with gold leaf.



Date: 1175-1185Size: 445 x 300 mm290 pages, 51 illuminations decorated with gold.Bound in tanned hide.Full-colour commentary volume (368 pp.) by Ángela Franco (Museo Arqueológico Nacional), Manuel Sánchez (Biblioteca Histórica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Elisa Ruiz (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) and Eugenio Romero (Auxiliary Bishop of Madrid)

Atlas MillerBIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE • PARIS

This gem in the history of cartography is the outcome of the combined efforts of the workshops of the first two “schools” of Portuguese cartography: the experi-enced Reinels’ school and the Homems’ school. The extraordinarily rich decora-tion of this atlas is undoubtedly the work of a first class illuminator: António de Holanda.

The Atlas Miller is deservedly con-sidered to be one of the best known and most valuable cartographic monuments of all times and its lavish artistic decora-tion is particularly noteworthy.

Date: 1519 Size: 6 parchment leaves: 8 maps (415 × 590 mm; 16.3 × 23.2 in) and 2 maps (610 × 1170 mm; 24 × 46 in) Made by Pedro and Jorge Reinel, Lopo Homem (cartographers) and António de Holanda (miniaturist)Silk casesFull-colour commentary volume (432 pp.) by Alfredo Pinheiro Marques (Centro do Estudos do Mar Luís de Albuquerque), Luís Filipe Thomaz (Director of the Institute for Oriental Studies of the Portuguese Catholic University) and Bernardo Sá Nogueira (Universidade de Lisboa)

The atlas of the first circumnavigation of the globe

Insulindia (Sumatra and the Moluccas)

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Probably made in Dieppe (France), this world atlas contains 15 nautical charts lavishly illustrated, as well as nautical in-formation, tables of declinations, etc.

The Vallard Atlas is one of the most noteworthy atlases of the sixteenth cen-tury, with formidable miniatures depict-ing the daily life of the native population at that period as well as being a wonder-ful testimony of the Age of Discovery. It is quite significant to note that the atlas depicts the Eastern Coast of Australia for the first time in history, 200 years before the voyages of Captain Cook, erroneous-ly considered the continent’s discoverer.



Shelf mark: HM 29Date: c. 1547Size: 390 × 280 mm; 15.4 × 11 in68 pages, 15 double-page nautical chartsRed leather binding with gold decoration Full-colour commentary volume (240 p.) by Luís Filipe F. R. Thomaz (Director of the Institute for Oriental Studies of the Portuguese Catholic University), Dennis Reinhartz (Emeritus professor at the University of Texas in Arlington) and Carlos Miranda García-Tejedor (Doctor in History)

Vallard AtlasTHE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY • SAN MARINO (US)

Universal Atlas of Fernão Vaz Dourado

ARQUIVO NACIONAL DA TORRE DO TOMBO • LISBON

In the mid-16th century, while Rome, Venice, Leuven and Antwerp printed hundreds of charts and maps, Vaz Doura-do applied and emphasized the premises of the most refined techniques of Renais-sance miniature painting: he used pris-tine white parchment, the drawings were meticulous and detailed, the rich palette was skilfully enhanced by the use of gilt, transforming his atlases into singular, sophisticated and valuable items, set well apart from mere printed works.

The Universal Atlas of Fernão Vaz Dourado has a single narrative structure associated with the intention to deline-ate, arrange and explain the world, mak-ing it intelligible by means of a fixed and codified graphic and visual language.



Date: 1571Size: 18 maps 53 x 41 cmFull-colour commentary volume (200 p.) by João Carlos Garcia (Universidade do Porto), Amélia Polónia (Universidade do Porto), Maria Fernanda Alegria (Universidade de Lisboa), Alexandra Curvelo (Museu Nacional do Azulejo e do CHAM, Centro de Estudos de História de Além-Mar), Maria João Melo (Universidade Nova de Lisboa) and Sónia Domingos, Teresa Araújo, Ana Fialho (ANTT).

Beatus of Liébana, Manuscritos Iluminados and the Bible of St. Louis for His Holiness Pope John Paul II

If you would like to add this special touch to any book you buy, simply contact your sales representative or ask us for an estimate directly:

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PERSONALISED FACSIMILES – M. Moleiro codices are often chosen as special gifts for persons of note around the globe, and can be personalised to suit the recipient. Here is a small selection of these unique and exclusive books.

Gulbenkian Apocalypse for His Majesty King Felipe VI

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Los sueños de mi padre for Mr. Obama

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mattioli’s dioscorides illustrated by cibo

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