[split] "Plants of the Alchemists"

[ReneZ]

It is a bit more complicated. There are relationships between the larger traditions, and there are several smaller traditions that tend to be found in the same manuscripts as the larger traditions.
There are many hundreds of illustrated herbals made up to the 15th century, and especially in the 15th century new trends appeared. Many of these manuscripts, even when perfectly legible, cannot be dated with any accuracy.

Without knowing more in detail, I can only say that it seems unlikely that the Voynich MS would be the first.

Probably worth noting also is that there are other herbal manuscripts that:
- have illustrations in ink that were never painted
- have illustrations in ink of which only some were painted
- have illustrations in ink that have been painted very coarsely
- have unrecognisable or barely recognisable herbs
- have one herb per page with short paragraphs of text
- have text carefully avoiding (but interlacing with) the illustrations