Case 1 - The Earth

Case 1 is comprised of three books: John Gerard's The Herball, Ferrante Imperato's Historia Naturale, & a fragment of Andrea Vesalius's De humani corporis fabrica. They have a collective theme of biology, as opposed to Case 2's focus on the less corporeal astronomy & math.

The attention to detail displayed in all three's woodcuts is extraordinary. Whether muscles, bush, or lizard, the woodcuts express a desire to capture the scientific imagination of the everyday person. Combined with the written descriptions for identification or history, it is easy to imagine that these books would be very useful in exploring the outer and inner worlds - even if the plant studied originated from the other side of the globe.