Secrets De Lhistoire Naturelle Paris Bibliothque Nationale De France Ms Fr 22971 Transcription And Translation John Friedman by John Friedman, Kristen Figg, Kathrin Giogoli instant download after payment.

Secretz de l’Histoire Naturelle, an illustrated geographical and encyclopaedic work in seventy-three chapters giving wonders and marvels of fifty-six places such as France or India and of seventeen things such as water, poisons, the human body, and ancient buildings. The Secretz translates into French of about 1380 the Fourteenth book of Pierre Bersuire’s Reductorium Morale, a Latin preaching encyclopedia. Secretz deals with trade with China, peoples real and imaginary such as Frisians and backward footed men, features of countries, islands, and regions such as mysteriously increasing and decreasing springs and mountains containing passageways to the antipodal regions, as well as marvellous deeds such as magical acts to remove flies from a city performed by the poet Virgil. The sources are primarily Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, Solinus’ Mirabilia, and Gervaise of Tilbury’s Otia Imperialia. The work exists is in four luxurious manuscripts ranging in date from 1427 to 1485 with pictures painted by eminent court artists as well as in several sixteenth-century printed editions
The volume--of which only the Middle French text and English translation, with Appendices--can be given here for copyright reasons, contains an Introduction by John Friedman and Kristen Figg, treating all aspects of the work, with detailed analyses of the content and style of the 56 miniatures by Kathrin Giogoli. The volume forms a Commentary to the Siloe facsimile of BnF fr. MS 22971 which appeared several years ago.