HERB - Re:Tacuinum sanitatis

[khkeeler]

Jasmine asked about Tacuinum Sanitatis-
and I wondered what version Georges Braziller has in print.

The Tacuinum Sanitatis (TS) began as an Arab manuscript about 1000 AD
giving health advice.  It was rewritten for Europeans several different
times across the next 400 years:  there are 4 (5? notes not here)
different versions in the great libraries of Europe,  commissioned by
different people at quite different times.

About a decade ago Facts on File published an edition called The Four
Seasons of the House of Cerruti, reprinting a single edition of the TS
--the one commissioned by the Cerruti's and bearing their arms. This
like the original is mostly pictures, with a small amount of text
describing "melons, cold and wet, good for the young and in summer.."
The descriptions are in full sentences and pretty clear to nonexperts,
tho they make much more sense if you understand humor theory.
This edition includes a good introduction to humors.

A few years later Georges Braziller published Tacuinum Sanitatis, by a
woman named Arano.  It was pretty clearly Arano's thesis.  The pictures
represent a different edition than the Cerruti, and in the back are a
large number of black and white versions of pictures from other
editions, at 4/page.  There's an index to all the editions, but the
names are as they appear in the originals, not scientific names or
English common names.  The descriptions under the pictures are very
telegraphic, including probably medical jargon, and you need a fair
amount of humor theory to make much sense out of them.  

Both of the above have been out of print.
If there is a new edition, I'd snap it up.  

They are really useful because 1) good look at Period health thinking.
The pictures include herbs, but also wool clothes, wind, water, wine, a
whole array of meats...all these things that are cold or warm, good for
you some seasons.  How you would use humor theory to maintain health is
very clear.  There are interesting suggestions of how to counter the bad
sides of the items (if you have problems with celery, serve with
lettuce). 
2) Obviously it gives familiar fruits, vegetables, spices and meats and
something about how they are eaten.
3) The pictures in any edition are of a particular time and very useful
for documenting daily life:  I've used it to document hen houses, wine
sold out of barrels, design of baskets for gathering fruit,
summer/outdoor women's clothes vs indoor finery.

Fun stuff
Agnes

kkeeler1 at unl.edu
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