Popularising and Personalising an Illustrated Herbal in Dutch

Abstract

Who were illustrated herbals intended for, who were the actual readers and how did they use these books? The case of the Dutch herbal Den groten herbarius met al sijn figueren (“The great herbal with all its figures”) sheds light on book producers’ strategies of popularisation and readers’ strategies of personalisation. Between 1514 and 1547, at least six illustrated folio editions appeared, with connections to German and English herbal traditions. The work’s paratexts point to a wide intended audience and to a key role for the illustrations in popularisation strategies. Early modern users’ traces in a corpus of 27 individual copies reveal owners from a variety of backgrounds who seem to share a predominantly practical interest in remedies. The article focuses on three pervasive practices of personalisation that offer new perspectives on readers’ engagement with materia medica: tagging recipes and plant names, attaching pins to the pages, and colouring woodcuts.