[Herbalist] Book Review: Tacuinum Sanitatis

[King's Taste Productions]

You know, one of my student's moms gave me an Amazon gift certificate,
and I couldn't narrow it down so I gave up!
This sounds like just the thing though - I would get a lot of use out of
that. 
Thanks!
Christianna
 
-----Original Message-----
From: herbalist-bounces+kingstaste=comcast.net at ansteorra.org
[mailto:herbalist-bounces+kingstaste=comcast.net at ansteorra.org] On
Behalf Of Kathleen Keeler
Sent: Monday, March 27, 2006 1:54 PM
To: CalontirHerbsAndPlants at yahoogroups.com; Ansteorran herbalist list.;
CalontirCooksGuild at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Herbalist] Book Review: Tacuinum Sanitatis
 
Greetings
My apologies to those of you who get this twice.
 
  I recently bought Tacuinum Sanitatis: An Early Renaissance Guide to
Health by Alixe Bovey, 2005,  ISBN 0-9549014-3-6
from Amazon, sight unseen.

   It turns out to be the best book on/of the Taciunum Sanitatis I've
seen. (I own The Four Seasons of the House of Cerruti, (a reprint of one
of the editions now out of print) and Luisa Arano's  The Medieval Health
Handbook Tacuinum Sanitatis, based on her PhD thesis on it, which is
available through used bookstores and at Amazon, as well as a couple of
books that reprint some of the pictures from T.S. I have however never
seen the $1,374.87 edition or $135 editions of the Tacuinum Amazon
advertises.)

    Tacuinum Sanitatis was a book of "health tables", compiled in Arabic
about 1050. They reached Europe in that form about 1200 and in the 1300
and 1400's were variously produced as handsome picture books that
explained, for a popular (not medical professionals) audience, the
health benefits of things from sage to rye to pork to drunkenness, the
east wind, and dancing.  The illustrations include a lot of detail of
daily life in southern Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Apparently they were widely used (copied and recopied) in Arabic, as
Latin tables, and in the picture book form.

    This volume is the book that accompanies an exhibition of the
pictures that is or was on display at Sam Fogg in London.
1) It gives a coherent, brief overview of the medical ideas of the
Middle Ages and how the Tacuinum Sanitatis fits into those;  2) It
explains the history of the TS, its origins, and its many editions. 3)
This edition has not been previously available because it is the one
edition that was in a private collection (Liechtenstein). Some of the
pictures are not present in any of the other versions I've seen. It
analyses who made it, for whom, where. 4) It presents in full color ALL
the pictures in the volume, reproduced at about 6 x 6 cm (2 1/2 x 2 1/2
"). 5)  The Liechtenstein volume was apparently once a single edition
with the "Rouen" edition. The commentary was cut from the Liechtenstein
volume so the comments on the pictures in this book were added based on
other editions of the TS.  They are great fun.  ["62 Thrushes  CXXX.
Turde A customer selects some thrushes from a merchant's selection.  The
best thrushes are fat, which are good for increasing the sex drive and
producing sperm."]

The rest of the book is lavishly illustrated with pictures from other
editions of TS or supplemental material such as the calligraphy of the
scribe believed to have written this edition.

It cost $35 of Amazon. Amazon's commentary is absolutely minimal, you
can't tell much of what you are getting.  The book is a thin (80 page)
paperback about 12" x 9" (larger than the average book).

As you can tell, I am very pleased with this book!
Agnes
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