[A sample of images relating to witchcraft and potions from the Wellcome Library. The Wellcome Library consists of a large collection of books, manuscripts and images, particularly concentrating on the medicine and the history of medicine. Many of the images are available for public use, and the Library has contributed a large number of images to Wikimedia Commons.
From their website:
“The Library was founded on the collections of Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853-1936).
Born in Almond, Wisconsin, Wellcome became a pharmaceutical salesman and moved to London in 1878 at the encouragement of Silas Burroughs, with whom he entered into partnership to create the firm of Burroughs Wellcome. The business flourished, and Wellcome became sole owner after Burroughs’s death in 1895.
After the death of Burroughs, much of Wellcome’s energy was directed towards developing his collections. His main interest was focused on the history of medicine, including ancillary subjects such as alchemy, witchcraft, anthropology and ethnography.”
The online collection contains thousands of images of historical interest which you can browse to your heart’s content. Here, we provide a few images to whet your appetite:
“Ortus Sanitatis (English: The Garden of Health), also known as the Hortus, is the first natural history encyclopaedia, published by Jacob Meydenbach in Mainz, Germany on 23 June 1491. It describes species in the natural world along with their medicinal uses and modes of preparation. It is in part an extended Latin translation of the German Herbarius published in 1485 but, unlike that earlier work, also deals with animals, birds, fish and stones. The author does not restrict himself to dealing only with real creatures, but also includes accounts of mythical beasts such as the hydra, phoenix, harpy, dragon and zitiron.”Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ortus_Sanitatis>
L0029212 Credit: Wellcome Library, London A plant with two children growing out of the buds.Coloured Woodcut 1491 From: Ortus sanitatis By: Arnaldus de Villanova, Published: Jacob MeydenbachMainz 1491 Collection: Rare Books Library reference no.: Slide number 7658 and EPB Incunabula 5.e.13 Full Bibliographic Record Link to Wellcome Library Catalogue ————–
L0004340 Credit: Wellcome Library, London A witch placing a scorpion into a pot in order to make a potion. Etching by F. Landerer after M. Schmidt.By: Martin Joachim Schmidt after: Ferdinand Landerer Published: s.n.[S.l. : Collection: Iconographic Collections Library reference no.: ICV No 26014 Full Bibliographic Record Link to Wellcome Library Catalogue ————–
V0025806ET Credit: Wellcome Library, London A witch holding a plant in one hand and a fan in the other. Woodcut, ca. 1700-1720.Woodcut ca. 1700-1720 Size: sheet 9.9 x 8.5 cm. Collection: Iconographic Collections Library reference no.: Iconographic Collection 603070i Full Bibliographic Record Link to Wellcome Library Catalogue ———————–
V0044812 Credit: Wellcome Library, London A witch, raising her arm above a cauldron, is making a potion; a young woman is kneeling in front of the cauldron; book and skeleton in the background.1773 By: John Hamilton Mortimer after: Dixon. Published: J. Boydell & J. Dixon,[London] (Kempes Row Chelsea) : 20 July 1773. Size: platemark 60.8 x 48.4 cm. Collection: Iconographic Collections Library reference no.: Iconographic Collection 576063i Full Bibliographic Record Link to Wellcome Library Catalogue Here’s a link to their witchcraft collection, from which many of the above images were taken: