Anna Svensson: "Books and Botany in Early Modern Sweden: from Arwid Månsson to Carl Linnaeus"

This draft for an anthology chapter considers the emergence of what we might call a botanical book culture in pre-Linnaean Sweden, generated in part by a growing publication industry as well as (in many cases plundered) European books: familiarity with, access to and ownership of books intersected with the rapidly expanding use of books to spread knowledge about plants and their uses. This is reflected in the emergence of a Swedish botanical canon, the growth of libraries and the user traces left in individual books. In particular, the chapter compares user traces (for instance annotations, pressed plants and accumulated marks from repeated handling) in surviving copies of Arwid Månsson’s popular herbal Een mykit nyttigh örta book, first published in 1628 and running through eight editions.

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