There's much more potentially misleading information, and the purpose of this contribution is to try to clarify some of these points.
The alchemical herbals were introduced into the "Voynich MS community" in two waves.
The first was introduced by Jim Reeds, after he and his wife had a discussion with Sergio Toresella who had just seen the Voynich MS in the Beinecke. This was in 1995 and Toresella also published a paper about it, equally dated 1995. This led to some discussions in the old mailing list, and to the summary by Dennis Stallings, that has been quoted here in this thread.
The second wave was introduced by Philip Neal, who had read the 2000 book by Vera Segre Rutz, and wrote his very useful You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .
Since the earliest surviving copies of the alchemical herbals are from the second half of the 14th century, and the other MSs from the 'direct tradition' are from the 15th century, they have nothing to do with Ulisse Aldrovandi, who was born in the 16th century. He was clearly interested in them, and he collected a few of the later copies, all of which he donated to the university of Bologna.
Clearly he is responsible for the association with alchemists, but all authors agree that not much importance should be given to that.
What is never really addressed is that the 'alchemical herbal' tradition is closely associated with the 'Tractatus de Herbis' tradition.
Most of the manuscripts I have seen have a seamless continuation from the alchemical herbs to a subset of herbs from the Tractatus de Herbis. The last two herbs in the sequence of alchemical herbals, nrs. 97 and 98, are called Consolida Maior and Consolida Minor. These are exact copies of the same herbs in the 'Tractatus' tradition, which also includes a Consolida Media.
At least the following alchemical herbals:
- Oxford Canon. Misc 408
- Florence MS 108
- Paris BN Lat 17844 and 17848
- Paris BN Hebr. 1199
then continue with the sequence (sometimes in a partly different order):
- Consolida Media
- Volubilis Minor
- Adianthos
- Tetrahit
- Calcantem
etc. etc. (in total some 60-70 herbs).
MS Aldini 211 seems to do the same, but I have not seen these illustrations.
In a following post I will add some illustrations.
The alchemical herbals were introduced into the "Voynich MS community" in two waves.
The first was introduced by Jim Reeds, after he and his wife had a discussion with Sergio Toresella who had just seen the Voynich MS in the Beinecke. This was in 1995 and Toresella also published a paper about it, equally dated 1995. This led to some discussions in the old mailing list, and to the summary by Dennis Stallings, that has been quoted here in this thread.
The second wave was introduced by Philip Neal, who had read the 2000 book by Vera Segre Rutz, and wrote his very useful You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .
Since the earliest surviving copies of the alchemical herbals are from the second half of the 14th century, and the other MSs from the 'direct tradition' are from the 15th century, they have nothing to do with Ulisse Aldrovandi, who was born in the 16th century. He was clearly interested in them, and he collected a few of the later copies, all of which he donated to the university of Bologna.
Clearly he is responsible for the association with alchemists, but all authors agree that not much importance should be given to that.
What is never really addressed is that the 'alchemical herbal' tradition is closely associated with the 'Tractatus de Herbis' tradition.
Most of the manuscripts I have seen have a seamless continuation from the alchemical herbs to a subset of herbs from the Tractatus de Herbis. The last two herbs in the sequence of alchemical herbals, nrs. 97 and 98, are called Consolida Maior and Consolida Minor. These are exact copies of the same herbs in the 'Tractatus' tradition, which also includes a Consolida Media.
At least the following alchemical herbals:
- Oxford Canon. Misc 408
- Florence MS 108
- Paris BN Lat 17844 and 17848
- Paris BN Hebr. 1199
then continue with the sequence (sometimes in a partly different order):
- Consolida Media
- Volubilis Minor
- Adianthos
- Tetrahit
- Calcantem
etc. etc. (in total some 60-70 herbs).
MS Aldini 211 seems to do the same, but I have not seen these illustrations.
In a following post I will add some illustrations.
![[+]](https://www.voynich.ninja/images/collapse_collapsed.png)