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Two East Anglian Picture Books. A facsimile of the Helmingham Herbal and Bestiary and Bodleian MS. Ashmole 1504.

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Full-size colour facsimiles of two extraordinary, and almost identical, medieval picture books containing a total of 98 pictures of flowers and trees and 58 of birds and animals together with a variety of other material (ornamental alphabets, drawings of coats of arms, household gear, embroidery patterns, landscapes and grotesques) representing the full range of medieval ornament.

Nicolas Barker’s wide-ranging introductory text examines the precise relationship between the two manuscripts, their purpose and provenance, the extent of the naturalism of their images, and connections with the other arts. The text is amplified with 61 black and white plates, and with a map and diagrams.

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