DIOSCURIDES PEDANIUS, OF ANAZARBOS. Codex Vindobonensis Med. Gr. 1 der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek. , Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1965-70

2 Vols., folio, the facsimile consists of 491 coloured fol. leaves, orig. white tawed pigskin over wooden boards, large and heavy folio, commentary volume consists of 104 pages and contains many additional illustrations of comparative material and is produced as a separate volume the same size as the facsimile, quarter pigskin over boards. "The Codex Vindobonensis represents not only the most significant Byzantine manuscript of secular content, but also the oldest illuminated version of the writings of Dioscorides. For more than 1500 years this work concerning medicines and other treatments drawn from the plant, animal and mineral kingdoms formed the undisputed basis of knowledge/belief for doctors and pharmacists - as sacrosanct as the Bible to Christians. Equally great was the interest in the writings of Dioscorides, which survived in a confused mass of copies and translations, often accompanied by notes, commentaries and supplementary material. Apart from a few even earlier fragments, the Codex Vindobonensis is the oldest version of the almost complete text, written on parchment shortly before 512 and containing largely lifelike illustrations. This codex is known by various titles - (1) Codex Aniciae Julianae named after its first owner, the Byzantine princess Juliana Anicia; (2) Codex Constantinopolitanus, Codex C or Codex Byzantinus, after Constantinople or Byzantium (later, after 1453, known as Istanbul), the city in which the manuscript originated and was kept for more than a thousand years; (3) Codex Vindobonensis, or the Vienna Dioscorides, after the place where the Codex has resided since 1569. No other codex communicates to the reader a similar feeling for the mystery of time: the annotation "ginestre" from an eastern French dialect apparently stems form the years of the first fall of Constantinople in 1204, other notes in Greek date from the time of the Paleaologue emperors (after 1261), when the manuscript was preserved in the Monastery of Prodromu Petra. Further notes and synonyms in Arabic, Persian and Turkish make it clear that this work continued to be used even after the second fall of Constantinople in 1453. Later the manuscript was acquired by Mose ben Mose, who may have added the numerous Hebrew translations of the plant names. The son of a certain Hamon them sold the manuscript to Emperor Maximilian II. Subsequently it was brought to Vienna, where and found its permanent place in the Imperial Library. Before long, scholars were coming from all over Europe to study the library's new acquisition. No other Byzantine codex has generated anything approaching the number of analyses, commentaries and evaluations."—The Society for the History of Natural History. (Book ref. 28117)  £2826.00

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