Production and design of early illustrated herbals

Abstract This article examines how early herbals were produced and illustrated, with a focus on the relationship between the design of the page and that of the production system. It shows that most surviving ancient illustrated herbals were illustrated prior to the copying of the text and thereby privileged the transfer of visual over verbal content. Over the course of the sixth century, however, we find that illustrated herbals were increasingly illustrated after the copying of text. The article suggests that this shift in production may have been a result of the consolidation of book production within monastic contexts. Still, even after the rise of text-first illustration, herbals continue to bear traces of the picture-first system in the close physical relationship between word and image.