The Roccabonella Herbal is an illustrated herbal from the mid-15th century.1 It has the shelfmark Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Lat. VI, 59 [coll. 2548].2 Entitled Liber de simplicibus, the text is a compendium of 450 local and 111 exotic herbs with 440 illustrations. It gives the name of each herb in Latin, Greek, Arabic and various Italian and Slavic languages.3
The text was compiled by the Venetian physician Nicolò Roccabonella (1386–1459).12 The illustrations are by Andrea Amadio.32 The author was formerly identified as Benedetto Rinio (1485–1565), a Venetian physician and pharmacist.4 Rinio's name appears in the book as its owner as of 1563.2
References
References
- Sarah R. Kyle (2023), "A More Modern Order: Virtual Collaboration in the Roccabonella Herbal", in Fabrizio Baldassarri (ed.), Plants in 16th and 17th Century: Botany between Medicine and Science, De Gruyter, pp. 19–52.
- Francesca Pitacco (2002), "Un prestito mai rifuso: la vicenda del Liber de simplicibus di Benedetto Rini" (PDF), in L. Borean; S. Mason (eds.), Figure di collezionisti a Venezia tra Cinque e Seicento, Udine: Forum, pp. 11–23.
- Josh Lauer (2001), "Life Sciences and Medicine: Biographical Mentions", in Neil Schlager (ed.), Science and Its Times: Understanding the Social Significance of Scientific Discovery, vol. 2: 700–1449, Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, pp. 180–187, s.v. "Benedetto Rinio", 184–185.
- Mauro Ambrosoli (1997) [1992], The Wild and the Sown: Botany and Agriculture in Western Europe, 1350–1850, translated by Mary McCann Salvatorelli, Cambridge University Press, pp. 99, 101, 104.