ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the history of production and collection of illustrated books of materia medica from across the Mediterranean world. These books appealed to readers from a variety of social, professional and political standings and for reasons just as various. The desire to possess a beautiful manuscript that provides a distinctive reading experience was certainly also part of the allure of illustrated books of materia medica, and perhaps especially so for Francesco Novello and for other patrons untrained in the medical arts or in pharmacology. The pleasure of reading Carrara Herbal and illustrated books of materia medica came with attendant usefulness: it enhanced one's knowledge - and, depending on the books' readers, brought new ways of categorising, applying or displaying this knowledge. It enhanced one's status or image among other learned readers or collectors through possession of the knowledge itself and through the manner in which that knowledge was presented.
