14 Jun 2023
  Susannah Helman

Sometimes you find a book that has it all—great age, fascinating illustrations, diagrams and maps, a wealth of information, and many marks of use.



I was looking for something else when I realised we held a book with all these things. It even has a woodcut of mythical creatures. It is the Margarita Philosophica (Pearl of Philosophy) (1517) of German Carthusian monk and prior Gregor Reisch (c. 1467—1525).

Two images: first of old and worn book, second of first page of old book with intricate black border illustrations and red text
The limp vellum binding (left) and title page (right) of Gregor Reisch, Margarita Philosophica (Pearl of Philosophy), Basel: Michael Fürter, 1517, Petherick Collection (Overseas Rare Books), nla.cat-vn525813

First published in Freiburg (in modern Germany) in 1503, the Library’s copy is the book’s fourth authorised edition. It was published in Basel (in modern Switzerland) 506 years ago—5 March 1517 to be exact. It is a compendium of knowledge, ancient and modern, Christian and secular, a textbook for students. In twelve parts—called books—it covers the range of university subjects students were required to master in the early modern period—grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, arithmetic, music, geometry, astronomy, natural philosophy, psychology, logic and ethics. Written in Latin, in the form of a dialogue between teacher and student, it is the world in a book.

A rare book opened to show an detailed illustration people, angels and ribbons to the left, a lift of words to the right.
Frontispiece featuring an enthroned Wisdom

This woodcut, which first appeared in the 1508 edition, sums up the Margarita Philosophica. Wisdom, crowned, sits on a throne. A tree grows out of her abdomen. The book’s subjects are named and illustrated in the tree’s branches and leaves. In her left hand, she shows students and their teacher a book, which they are reading eagerly.  A very small lion (or is it a poodle with a lion cut?) sits quietly beside her throne, closest to the reader.

Each section of the book is introduced by its own full-page woodcut.

A rare book opened to show an illustration of people and a triangular tower on the left and a page of words on the right.
Title page for Grammar

The first book is about Grammar, represented here as the key to or foundation of all learning. Nicostrata, the goddess credited with introducing the Latin alphabet, leads a student towards the tower of the Liberal Arts. Metaphysics and Theology (represented by theologian Peter Lombard) are at the top, a statement about their importance. 

A rare book opened to a page of text on the left and detailed illustration of a person, some animals and nature.
Title page for Logic

Logic is going hunting, in pursuit of a hare (named Latin for ‘problem’), with her dogs ‘truth’ and ‘falsity’ armed with the bow ‘questio’, meaning research or inquiry.



Gregor Reisch was a Carthusian, a religious order with contemplation central to their way of life, allowing for both the hermit and community life. The writing and production of books was important to Reisch's silent order at Freiburg-im-Breisgau. Reisch was well connected in the world of letters—he helped the great scholar Erasmus with his edition of the works of St Jerome. Erasmus, in turn, called him an ‘oracle’. One of Reisch’s students was Martin Waldseemüller, known today for his printed world map of 1507—the first printed map published with the name America on the separate continent. Only one copy of that first edition survives at the Library of Congress. Waldseemüller in fact contributed maps and words to editions of the Margarita, unfortunately not this one.

Woman in elaborate dress and large hat standing behind formally dressed man sitting on a chair
Alice Mills (1870–1929), Portrait of Edward Augustus Petherick and his wife Mary Agnes Petherick, sepia-toned photograph, Pictures Collection, nla.cat-vn2185551

Our Margarita Philosophica was once owned by Edward Augustus Petherick, whose collections are at the centre of the Library’s collections and history. Petherick was London agent for Australian bookseller George Robertson, and sold his collection to the Commonwealth of Australia in 1909. It is thanks to Petherick and his varied interests that we hold letters by Jane Austen and George Eliot, the Doncker Atlas (1659), the manuscript Vlamingh charts of Western Australia (1697–1726) and many rare books relating to Australia. See this guide for more about his collection.

Bookplate in old book and close up of an annotation signed 'E.A.P.'
Petherick’s bookplate adhered to the front endpaper;  One of Petherick's annotations, initialled 'E.A.P.'

The Margarita Philosophica is one of the oldest books Petherick collected. He clearly thought much of it, as he has annotated it and stuck his bookplate to the front endpaper, which he very rarely did. (At this stage, we know of five in the Library's collection.) Long serving former Library staff member Philip Jackson wrote a blog about Petherick’s bookplate.

The Margarita Philosophica was very popular during the 16th century, and many editions, including pirate copies, were produced, the last in 1600. The book is not as well-known as it could be, considering its scope and illustrations.

Its many and varied woodcut illustrations are fascinating, at least for me. Woodblocks were used for printing in China prior to 220 CE and in Japan from the eighth century CE, at first onto textiles, and later onto paper. In Europe, they were used from around 1400 CE. A design is drawn, this design is then traced onto a block of wood, which is then cut in relief. The block is inked, then pressed onto paper.

Our copy of the book is uncoloured, except for the red printed letters on the title page (as below) but some surviving copies are hand-coloured. The book had a complicated genesis: Reisch wrote it in the 1490s, and went through several printers. It is likely that several artists designed the many woodcuts. Remarkably, letters survive from 1498 by Swiss artist Alban Graf about his work on the book, which you can read at this link. 

A rare book opened to the title page with a boarder illustrated with much detail. Title reads 'Margarita'
Title page of the Margarita Philosophica (1517)

Ambrosius Holbein (c. 1494–c.1519), elder brother of the portraitist Hans, is said to have designed the border of the title page of this 1517 edition. Ambrosius designed the famous frontispiece of Sir Thomas More’s Utopia—we hold the third, 1518 edition. More was a great friend of Erasmus, who likewise knew Reisch. It is also interesting that this border was later used for a publication by Martin Luther.

The woodcuts throughout the book draw on medieval and early modern illustrative, cosmographical and cartographical traditions and update them. The 1517 edition’s woodcuts are very similar to those of the 1508 edition.

It is almost certain, however, that Petherick acquired the book for its maps—cartography being one of his great interests. They are found in the book on Astronomy.

A rare book opened up to a detailed illustration of two people walking on mountainous fields on the left and a page of text on the left.
Title page of Astronomy

Here you see Astronomy behind a crowned Ptolemy—the 2nd-century CE Alexandrian thinker, who is making observations with a quadrant. Who is teaching whom? Whatever the case, it argues that Ptolemy is very important to the study of astronomy.

A rare book opened to a page with an illustration of a person standing in front of a spiral on the left and a illustrated map on the right.

This woodcut shows a geocentric view of the Cosmos. Atlas, the Titan of ancient Greek myth, is at the centre of this woodcut, with Earth just at his bottom.

A rare book being held open to show some text and a circle with lines inside on the left and more text on the left.

This representation of the Earth is a ‘zonal map’, which identifies the Earth as a globe, the polar regions as uninhabitable, temperate zones as inhabitable, and the torrid zone around the Equator as uninhabitable. 

A rare book being held open to a page with an illustration of a circular device.

This is an armillary sphere, an instrument for making astronomical calculations, on the basis that the Earth is at the centre of the universe.

I was most surprised, however, to find this world map in the book.

Artistic world map with faces blowing wind around the border
World map from the 1503 edition of Gregor Reisch, Margarita Philosophica. Our map has been folded for centuries and photography does not yet do it justice. (Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons) 

These world maps are rarely found intact in copies of the Margarita Philosophica. Perhaps because they are so lovely. In his Geography, Ptolemy demonstrated how to project the globe onto a plane surface. In a revolutionary move, Ptolemy provided coordinates for over 8,000 places across the known world, expressed in degrees of longitude and latitude.

The map is very similar to the 1482 Ulm edition of Ptolemy's Geography, with some updates. 

A page with an illustrated map with illustrated heads decorating the boarder.

Our region has the text: ‘Hic non terra sed mare est: in quo mire magnitudinis Insule, sed Ptolemeo fuerunt incognite.’ (Here is not land, but sea, in which are islands, that were unknown to Ptolemy.)

The Margarita Philosophica map departs from the Ulm edition in one major way. It has wind heads that are all different, some rather quirky, even one with spectacles.

Drawing of woman with glasses blowing air out of her mouth
This is the windhead for Vulturnus, the east wind of Roman mythology.
A rare book opened to two pages of sheet music.
Reisch classified music as a mathematical discipline, alongside arithmetic, geometry and astronomy.  The music book is divided in two, on the principles and practice of music. It is drawn mostly from the Roman philosopher Boethius.
A rare book showing a medical illustration of a person with their organs on show and descriptive tags included.
This is what’s called a zodiacal or zodiac man, popular in European medical manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It symbolises the belief in the direct relationship of astrology to different parts of the body and suggests that the timing of treatment should take the movement of the heavens into account.
A rare book opened to a medical illustration of a person with their organs displayed.
Woodcut of the human body. 

It is interesting to note that this, like other contemporary depictions, shows the human liver with several lobes. The liver is the left organ, on the same level as the elbow (beside it are the stomach and spleen). The human liver has only 2 lobes. This one has more than that. Artists’ access to the human body was limited at this time, so artists drew and printed what they knew—pigs’ livers have several lobes.

A rare book open to a medical illustration of the side of a human head.
Woodcut showing cerebral ventricals

Headed with the Latin for ‘Of the power of the mind’, this woodcut shows the human brain as having three connected parts—imagination at the front, thinking in the middle and memory at the back.

A rare book open showing a medical illustration of an eye facing forward and the side view of an eye with descriptive labels.
The Margarita Philosophica has the earliest printed depiction of the human eye, with front and side views.
A rare book open to show an illustration of people with unusual features including one with a wolf head and another with a face on their chest.

To end, it has some of my favourite beings in a small woodcut, both mythical and very real conjoined human twins. Left to right you see the Sciopod with a large leg and foot, a Cyclops with one central eye, a Blemmyae with his face in his chests; and the Dogheaded Cynocephali.

You can read the Bavarian State Library’s copy of Gregor Reisch, Margarita Philosophica (1517) online at this link.

The National Library of Australia’s Rare Books Collection is full of unexpected treasures. This has to be one of my favourites. Join the National Library or search our catalogue for more. 

Dr Susannah Helman is Rare Books and Music Curator, National Library of Australia

 

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