Tote #1: Erbario (2022)

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." - Cicero This botanical tote (notable for being the first Bonfire-branded product in our shop history!) features a illustration from a delightful 15th-century "erbario" or herbal handbook created in northern Italy. The book contains 192 watercolor paintings of plants, some rendered in a naturalistic style while others boast fanciful patterns, human-like faces, and other fantastical elements. We do not, alas, have this book available for purchase in our antiquarian section, but we can direct your curiosity to an article about it in The Public Domain Review. Besides the informative write-up, PDR has provided a marvelous selection of images from that remarkable manuscript, "with its anthropomorphised vegetation and dragon-shaped roots. A high-quality scan of the original erbario can be found on the Penn Libraries site, under catalog heading Ms. LJS 419; our image appears on the leaf 41r ("r" here signifying "recto", the "right" or "front" side of a leaf of paper or folio). Specifications: constructed from 285 gsm (8.4oz) fabric, 80% recycled cotton, 20% polyester long handles with geometric design in red inside pocket for storage 14.9 in wide by 16.5 in high (38 x 42 cm