Figures
1.1 [Ulrich Rülein van Calw], Ein Unterwysung wie man sich tzu der Tzeit der Pestilentz halten sol, (Leipzig 1521) 23
1.2 Covid 19-Virus, Alissa Eckert, MSMI; Dan Higgins, MAMS, 2020 28
1.3 Plague in Lucches, c.1400, manuscript illumination 29
1.4 Army trucks remove the Corona dead in Bergamo, photo, 2020 30
1.5 Philipp Imsser, Pestilentz Büchlein (1680), title page 32
1.6 Heinrich Steinhöwel, Büchlein der Ordnung der Pestilenz (Ulm 1473), first page 35
1.7 Heinrich Steinhöwel, Büchlein der Ordnung der Pestilenz (Ulm 1473), last page 35
1.8 Heinrich Steinhöwel, Büchlein der Ordnung der Pestilenz Manuscript, ca. 1470 39
1.9 Ein kurtze Underrichtung heilbarer krefftiger ertzeney (Leipzig: Lotther, 1515) 40
1.10 Illustration from Hans Folz, Ein fast köstlicher spruch von der pestilencz, (Nürnberg 1482) 41
1.11 Heinrich Steinhöwel, Büchlein der Ordnung der Pestilenz, Ulm: Zainer 1473 (initial on the first page) 42
1.12 [Peraudi], Resolutiones Certorum Dubiorum, Erfurt 1502, inside book cover, endpaper 46
2.1 Jacob Köbel, Geometrey Von künstlichem Feldmessen (Frankfurt am Main: Egenolph 1584), p. 10 r 59
2.2 Des Durchleuchtigen/ Hochgebornen Fürsten […] Philippi Landgraffen zu Hessen […] Hochnöthige unnd Gründliche Reformation (Gießen: Hampel 1625), p. 8 60
2.3 Johann Popp, Tractat von dem Diaphoretischen Praepariten Antimonio (Coburg: Hauck 1610), fol. Aiiii r 64
2.4 Philipp Ulsted, Coelum philosophorum (Frankfurt am Main: Gülfferich 1551), title page and, on the left, the last verso side of 15 blank leaves 65
2.5 Andreas Libavius, Alchymistische Practic (Frankfurt am Main: Kopff, Saur 1603), front cover 66
2.6 Andreas Libavius, Alchymistische Practic (Frankfurt am Main: Kopff, Saur 1603), p. 10 67
2.7 Hieronymus Brunschwig, Distillierbuch (Frankfurt am Main: Gülfferich 1551), unpag. [fol. 2v] (das Erste Capitel, was Distillierenn sey) 68
2.8 Paracelsus, Medici libelli (Köln: Virendunck, Birckmann 1567), and ders, Büchlin von der Tinctura Physica (Basel: Apiarius, Perna 1570) 69
3.1 Woodcut illustration from book six, showing the correct use of the ‘Baculus Jacob’ (Jacob’s staff) in surveying. Note the red line added by an early user or rubricator to correct the positioning of the staff. A hand-coloured copy from Ferguson Ag-a.30, USTC 748439 76
3.2 The opening hand-coloured woodcut of book six, on Geometry, with hand-flourished initials in the Margarita owned by the Carthusians of the Mount of Saint John the Baptist in Freiburg, Ferguson Ag-a.30, USTC 748439 82
3.3 The distribution of annotations between books in the Glasgow corpus 85
3.4 Number of copies where greater than or equal to 10% and 25% of a book’s pages are annotated 86
3.5 Three images of leaf tab markers from Ferguson Ag-a.22, USTC 748439 89
3.6 Three expurgated images. On left and centre: the zodiac man and organ man illustrations from Ferguson Ag-a.30, USTC 748439. On right: zodiac man from Sp Coll E.d.20, USTC 605010 90
3.7 Pre-censored images from the first Grüninger edition, 1504 – Ferguson Af-b.66, USTC 609452. On left: zodiac man from book seven. On right: organ man from book nine 93
3.8 Three organ man illustrations with penises drawn in. On left: Ferguson Af-y.74, USTC 676099. Centre: Ferguson Ag-a.36, USTC 676099. On right: Ferguson Af-b.40, USTC 605010 94
4.1 Cod. Guelf. 60.5 Aug. 8°, fols. 83v–84r. HAB 104
4.2 Basilius Valentinus, Triumph-Wagen Antimonii (1676), pp. 88–89 106
4.3 Chemia Rationalis (Frankfurt/Leipzig: Johann Justus Erythropel, 1696), pp. 180–181 107
4.4 Geber, Summa Perfectio (Strasbourg: Lazarus Zetzners Erben, 1625), pp. 286–287 108
4.5 Cod. Guelf. 771 Helmst., fols. 177v–178r 110
4.6 Cod. Guelf. 62.4 Aug. 8°, fols. 117v–118 111
4.7 Cod. Guelf. 16.3 Aug. 4°, fols. 164v–165r 112
4.8 Andreas Libavius, Commentationum Metallicarum Libri Quatuor (Frankfurt a. M.: Johannes Saur and Peter Kopf, 1597) 114
4.9 Alexandre de La Tourrette, Bref Discours des Admirables Vertus de l’Orpotable (Paris: Jean de l’Astre, 1575), back endpaper 115
4.10 Cod. Guelf. 306.1 Extrav., fol. 1r. HAB 116
4.11 Corpus iuris civilis (Basel: Michael Wenssler, 1481. GW 7605), back mirror page 117
4.12 Philipp Melanchthon, Annotationes … in Euangelium Matthaei (Nuremberg: Johann Petreius, 1523), front mirror and flyleaf 118
4.13 Cicero, Pro A. Licinio Archia Poeta & M. Marcello Orationes, ed. by Daniel Vechner (Leipzig: Thomas Schürer, 1612), last page and back mirror 119
5.1 Screenshot of Secrets of Craft and Nature, with examples of structural and semantic markup highlighted 133
5.2 Screenshot of Secrets of Craft and Nature displaying the facsimile and normalised transcription of fol. 3r of Ms. Fr. 640, with corresponding blocks of text highlighted 134
5.3 Pie chart illustrating the relative proportions of entry categories in Ms. Fr. 640, created by Naomi Rosenkranz, 2019 138
5.4 Graph showing the distribution of entry categories across Ms. Fr. 640, created by Naomi Rosenkranz 140
5.5 ‘Treemap’ of the entry categories of Ms. Fr. 640, created by Clément Godbarge 141
5.6 Heatmap showing correlations between semantic tag categories and entry categories, created by Clément Godbarge 142
5.7 Burn salve made according to the recipe in Ms. Fr. 640 (fol. 103r). The transparent yellow mixture of melted wax and linseed oil (left) transformed into a thick white salve (right) 150
6.1 Johann Jacob Wecker, De Secretis libri XVII, list of authors 161
6.2 Johann Jacob Wecker, De Secretis libri XVII, p. 49 162
6.3 Johann Jacob Wecker, De Secretis libri XVII, diagrams 164
7.1 Caesare Ripa’s Iconologia, p. 109 171
7.2 Jerome Nadal’s Adnotationes et meditations in Evangelica 172
7.3 Joannes David’s Duodecim specula [Twelve Mirrors] of 1610 173
7.4 Francesco Lana di Terzi: Prodromo overo saggio di alcune inventioni nuove premesso all’arte maestra (Brescia: Rizzardi 1670), p. 50–51 175
7.5 Woodcut from Peter Attendorn, Johannes Geiler von Kaysersberg, Jacob Wimpfeling and Jodocus Gallus: Directoriu[m] statuu[m]. Seu verius. Tribulatio seculi, Strasbourg 1489 (unpaginated). Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen Berlin-PK, Gris126 kl 176
7.6 Engraving from Eberhard Werner Happel: Vierter Theil: Grösseste Denkwürdigkeiten der Welt oder so genandte Relationes Curiosae, Hamburg 1689, plate after p. 309, Staatsbibliothek Berlin Ah 3122:R 177
7.7 Eagle, 5 May 1950, from The Eagle Book of Cutaways: L. Ashwell Wood. With an introduction and edited by Dennis Gifford (London: Webb& Power, 1988), p. 58–59 178
7.8 Early Plane. Taken from Jon Richards and Alex Pang, The Fantastic Cutaway Book of Flight (London: Aladdin/Watts, 2001 [1998]) 179
7.9 Eagle, 23 September 1955, from The Eagle Book of Cutaways. L. Ashwell Wood. With an introduction and edited by Dennis Gifford (London: Webb & Power, 1988), pp. 90–91 180
7.10 Haynes Service and Repair Manuals. Private collection 181
7.11 Star Wars / Death Star. Hayne’s pastiche. Private collection 182
7.12 Emblematic illustration (engraving) from Jacob Bosch: Symbolographia, Sive De Arte Symbolica Sermones Septem (Augsburg 1702), Tab. XIX 184
7.13 Artist’s impression showing a cutaway view of the Skylab 1 Orbital Workshop (OWS). Johnson Space Center, NASA, 1973. Anna Escardò, Julius Wiedemann (ed.), Science Illustration: A History of Visual Knowledge from the 15th Century to Today (Cologne: Taschen, 2023), p. 310 185
7.14 Rocket with two stages (drawing) from Conrad Haas: (Hermannstädter) Kunstbuch, Manuscript, Bucharest, National Archives, Ms. 2286 187
7.15 Rocket with delta shaped fins (drawing) from Conrad Haas: (Hermannstädter) Kunstbuch, Bucharest, National Archives, Ms. 2286 188
7.16 The ‘fliegende Haus’ (drawing) from Conrad Haas: (Hermannstädter) Kunstbuch, Bucharest, National Archives, Ms. 2286 189
8.1 Title page of Den sack der consten (Antwerp: Jacob van Liesvelt, 1528) 195
8.2 Mock recipe against toothache at the end of Den sack der consten (1528) 200
8.3 A woodcut representing Children of Venus accompanies an instruction to make an old dying tree green again. Den sack der consten (1528), fol. B2v 204
8.4 Children of Venus, woodcut in Der scaepherders kalengier (Antwerp: Willem Vorsterman, 1516), fol. h3v 205
8.5 A woodcut of a naked woman accompanies recipes for small and firm breasts in Den sack der consten (Antwerp: Willem Vorsterman, 1537), fol. C3r 207
8.6 A woodcut of a naked woman as part of a composite illustration in the prose romance Van heer Frederick van Jenuen (Antwerp: Willem Vorsterman, 1531), fol. D4v 208
9.1 I secreti de la signora Isabella Cortese (Venetia 1561), Title page 216
9.2 G.B. Della Porta, Natural Magick in XX Bookes (London 1658), title page 218
9.3 G.B. Della Porta, Magiae naturalis libri XX (Francofurti 1591), p. 230 219
9.4 I secreti de la signora Isabella Cortese (Venetia 1561), fol. 16v 224
9.5 G.B. Della Porta, Magia Naturalis oder Haus- Kunst- und Wunder-Buch (Nürnberg 1680), illustration for Book 9: ‘Of Beautifying Women’ 228
9.6 Frawen Isabellae Cortese verborgene und heimliche Künste und wunderwerck (Franckfort am Mayn 1596), p. 289 231
9.7 G.B. Della Porta, Magia Naturalis oder Haus- Kunst- und Wunder-Buch (Nürnberg 1680), illustration for Book 6: ‘Of counterfeiting precious Stones’ 232
10.1 Glittering sigil of the Moon from Pseudo-Solomon’s Les Clavicules de R. Salomon, 1796 243
10.2 Cover of Pseudo-Solomon’s Les Clavicules de R. Salomon, 1796 244
10.3 Cassiel, angel of Saturday, depicted on the binding spine of Francis Barrett’s ‘Magus’, 1801 245
10.4 Cover of the grimoire Imprecationes Fausti. Dr. Fausts Höllen-Zwang, c.1750 246
10.5 A recipe for making a thurible from a W.H. Ibbett’s Treatise on magic, 1854–1857 257
10.6 A page with ‘simple perfumes’ from Pseudo-Solomon’s Les Clavicules de R. Salomon, 1796 259
10.7 A page with description of the Moon’s perfume from Pseudo-Solomon’s Les Clavicules de R. Salomon, late eighteenth century 263
11.1 Portrait of Duchess Sophia. Lucas Cranach the Younger (1515–1586), c.1553 269
11.2 Current view of the widow’s residence Schöningen 269
11.3 Cost breakdown for the production of the medicine chest 272
11.4 Overview of 18 diseases for whose therapy the medicinal vessels contained ingredients 275
11.5 Beginning of the text of the report 277
11.6 Caspar Neefe authorised the report with his signature 281
11.7 Double page from Johannes Neefe’s printed plague treatise 293
11.8 Powder against a difficult birth 298
11.9 List of remedies in the medicine chest 302
11.10 Double page from the dietetics of the personal physician Gervasius Marstaller 304
11.11 A note with the recipe for the potion against urinary stones from the personal physician Gervasius Marstaller 306
11.12 Grave sculpture of Duchess Sophia 307
Tables
3.1 Sixteenth-century editions of Reisch’s Margarita philosophica 73
10.1 Planetary suffumigation ingredients in Picatrix 250
10.2 Planetary suffumigation ingredients in The Keys of Rabbi Solomon 260