Bat book, facsimile of medical almanac (York, 1364) / designed and bound by Bryn Michelson-Ziegler.

Format:

Other

Author/Creator:

Michelson-Ziegler, Bryn, bookbinder, book artist.

Contributor:

Rosenbach Museum & Library, repository, associated name.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Medicine--Early works to 1800.

Medicine.

Almanacs.

Genre:

Girdle books.

Artists' books.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Bryn Michelson-Ziegler (Philadelphia, PA), 2026.

Physical Description:

1 volume (10 folded sheets) : paper ; 20 x 18 cm (each page 30 x 13 cm unfolded)

Production:

Philadelphia, [2025].

Notes:

Title supplied by cataloger.

Artists' book with facsimile pages of Rosenbach MS1004/29, Almanack (York, 1364), held at the Rosenbach Museum & Library. The original manuscript is a physician's belt book including a calendar, tables of solar and lunar eclipses, anatomical phlebotomy diagram, and urine color wheel. The pages are printed from digital images (hosted on BiblioPhilly) and folded and trimmed to mimic the original. The tabs are of kitakata paper toned with watercolor. The covers are black leather with gold thread trim. The binding is not designed to match the orginial, and one of the book's covers is the shape of a bat with outstretched wings. Designed after "bat books" (a type of belt book that hangs upside down with pages that unfold multiple times to be read, see J. P. Gumbert, Bat books: a catalogue of folded manuscripts containing almanacs or other texts), it has a leather loop with snap button attached to the spine with metal hardware so as to be hung from the wearer's belt. A black cord with metal tip, attached to one of the covers, wraps around the book to keep it closed.

Other Edition:

Reproduction of: York, 1364 Rosenbach Museum and Library

Online:

Digitized original on BiblioPhilly