Illustrated encyclopedia compiled by HERRAD VON LANDSBERG, Abbess of Hohenbourg, Alsace, in the late 12th century. The only copy was held in the municipal library of Strasbourg but was completely destroyed by fire in the bombardment of the city in 1870. Fortunately, records had been made of some parts of the text and copies made of some of the illustrations: Christian Moritz Engelhardt had had drawings made for his 1818 publication of the Hortus; the manuscript had also been lent to the French antiquary Comte Auguste de Bastard d'Estang, who had notes on the text and some coloured copies made of the illustrations by Wilhelm Stengel. Some years after its destruction Canons Straub and Keller published these and other extant drawings made from the manuscript and presented some account of its contents, but it was not until 1979 that a team of scholars published as complete a reconstruction as possible of the text and illustration of the Hortus deliciarum.
See the Abbreviations for further details.
