Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Damien Ihrig, MA, MLIS
Curator, John Martin Rare Book Room

Blood is red,
Candida in bloom,
it's poetry month,
at the Martin Rare Book Room!

April is National Poetry Month so we are highlighting the classic works of Nicander of Colophon. I briefly considered writing the entire newsletter in verse, but 1) it would take until next April to finish and 2) it would be very bad (see poem above). You're welcome.

Nicander was a physician poet from the 2nd century BCE. We know he wrote many different works, but only two complete examples have survived.

The two works,Theriaca and Alexipharmaca, deal with poisons and venoms. Poems like these were thought to make scientific content and concepts easier to understand and remember. Nicander, though, was more interested in form and style not necessarily accuracy.

Indeed, his poems can be difficult to read and he did not seem to have much knowledge at all of toxicology. As Gow and Scholfield note in their Poems and poetical fragments, "his contorted style and fantastic vocabulary put him beyond the reach of scientists unless they are also Greek scholars. . ." (p. xi).

Nicander was born and raised in Clarus in western Asia Minor (near the larger Colophon, in what is now Western Turkey) during the reigns of the last kings of the Attalid Dynasty of Pergamon. Clarus was home to a large temple devoted to Apollo and there are several references to Nicander's family as priests in the cult, including perhaps Nicander, himself.

Scroll down to find out more about these classic poetical works of toxicology.

Stay well and happy reading!

Hours

The Room is available Monday-Thursday, 8:30-5:00 (U.S. Central) and Friday by appointment. Face masks are welcome. To guarantee the Room is available, please contact me at damien-ihrig@uiowa.edu.

April 20 from 4-7 pm (central) – The John Martin Rare Book Room Open House
Join us for an evening of bibliomanic fun. Enjoy an up-close and personal look at new acquisitions and old favorites.

May 11 (7 pm Central) – Iowa Bibliophiles: A Year of Acquisitions
This is an in-person event in the Special Collections & Archives Reading Room, located on the 3rd Floor of the Main Library. Sit down with Rare Book and Maps Curator Dr. Eric Ensley as he talks about new items that have joined our collection over the last couple of years. From Japanese textile books to a medieval nun's miniature manuscript to a story that offered an escape from WWII, come explore the new items in our collection that are already making an impact on students and faculty.

June 2 (1-3 pm Central) – The Roots of Medicine College of Pharmacy Medicinal Garden Grand Opening
College of Pharmacy Building - 180 South Grand Avenue
This is an in-person event. The featured speaker is Kelly Kindscher, Ph.D., Ethnobotanist and Professor, Environmental Studies Program at the University of Kansas. Remarks will be followed by light refreshments.
Roots of Medicine is an interdisciplinary project featuring a collaboration between the College of Pharmacy, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, and community members. It joins the College of Pharmacy garden with historical resources from the John Martin Rare Book Room and databases from the National Institutes of Health.

June 6 at 7 pm (central) – The John Martin Rare Book Room Presents
The origin of viruses: from Lucy Australopithecus to King Nebuchadnezzar
401 Hardin Library

Dr. Charles Grose
Professor of Pediatrics-Infectious Disease
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics

This is an in-person event.

Book of the Month

NICANDER, OF COLOPHON (flourished 138-130 BCE) Theriaka; Tou autou Alexipharmaka [Greek title transliterated]. Theriaca; Eiusdem Alexipharmaca. Printed by John Soteris in 1530. 21 cm tall.

The longest of the hexameter poems, Theriaca, covers venomous animals. Nicander describes the animals, the symptoms associated with a bite or sting, and pharmacological recipes for treating them.

The Alexipharmaca covers poisons that have been ingested orally from animals, plants, or minerals and their antidotes. Much like Theriaca, Nicander breaks the entries into a description of the poison, the symptoms, and recipes for antidotes. Nicander is also thought to be the first to suggest the use of leeches in a medicinal context, although many scholars believe he borrowed heavily from the Greek-Egyptian physician Apollodorus (fl. 250 BCE).

The first known print copies of the poems are in the 1499 edition of Dioscorides' De materia medica. The poems are also bound together in this item with the first Latin translation made by Johann Lonitzer (1499-1569). Lonitzer was a classical languages scholar, poet, and professor at Marburg in Germany.

As can be seen from the image above, the cover of the book is cut from a piece of vellum

manuscript waste (parchment from an older, handwritten work used in the binding of another book). It is heavily stained with ink spilled from an inkpot (tip of the hat to Collections Conservator, Beth Stone for identifying the stain). Perhaps an apprentice or student faced the wrath of their instructor for using the book as a stand for their ink?

It also appears the cover was given conservation treatment at some point before we acquired it. As part of this treatment, the cover was removed. However, when it was reattached, the covers were reversed! Thus, the spine title is now upside down and the ink stains on the front actually originated on the back. Another example of all the amazing stories our books have to tell us beyond what is written on the page.

Other than the mistreatment at the hands of the nameless, ink-spilling writer/illustrator, the book is in great condition. And other than some minor staining in the back (ink that bled through from the spill on the cover) and on the edges, the paper is especially in good shape. If you stop by the open house on the 20th, you'll have a chance to take a look for yourself.

Contact me to view this book or any others from this or past newsletters: damien-ihrig@uiowa.edu or 319-335-9154 to arrange a visit in person or over Zoom.