Mayer und Goehl - the latter being the translator and yes! also the commentator of MACER FLORIDUS are to be congratulated. The book is reasonably priced; it is well printed in an easy to read fashion; it is accompanied by a good introduction; it reprints Choulant's Latin text, originally printed in 1832 on unsuitable paper but here reproduced perfectly legibly; the translation German used is down to earth with none of this physicians'cant that bars the layman.
Goehl is perfectly aware of the fact that a good translation must be a conmmentary as well. Observe his rendering of calidum "hot, warm":
v. 1368: Hocque modo calidam dicunt sedare podagram.
"They say that in this manner it soothes the hot foot-gout".
"auf gleiche Weise soll sie die Fussgicht, DIE AUS WARMEN KOERPERSAEFTEN KOMMT, zur Milde zwingen."
Compare also vv. 1927, 2152, 2169 etc.
It seems almost churlish to mention a few criticisms. Thus I would disagree with some translations, e.g.in v. 1135 I would connect PERITI with DICUNT, i.e. "the experts say", rather than with CEREBRI which raises the awkward question: what exactly is an "erfahrenes Gehirn". Also: vers 1745 :TER DENIS is "thrice ten = 30" rather than "Dreizehn", and I have a few other minor quibbles.
More generally it must be said that Choulant's Latin text is not really fully accessible to the readers of this book: by not including Choulant's introduction "Prolegomena ad Macrum" much remains unexplained, e.g. which manuscripts and editions were collated. Also, the identification of plants should perhaps been given more prominence; the editors' list is essentially only an update of Choulant's list. And by the way I cannot see any identification attempt for 13. "PORRUM".
Another question has rather puzzled me: why did Goehl rely so much on Adam Lonitzer for his commentary? After all Lonitzer's "Kreutterbuch" is only a rehash of 15th century materials. But perhaps this very unoriginality makes him suitable as a late-ish source for an 11th century work like Macer Floridus.
Finally: Auslasser's "Herbar" is contributing with breath-takingly beautiful illustrations. Surely, this herbal deserves full publication and soon. This has already been promised for the "Aeltere Deutsche Macer" and I for one can't wait for it.
But this book's main achievement must be that it is bound to open this particular field of study - medieval medicine - to anybody interested in the history of medicine and a host of other interlocking disciplines.
Thank you, Konrad and Johannes Gottfried, keep up the good work and I wish you both the best of luck.
Wilf Gunther
"Hillcrest"
Puddington Nr. Tiverton/Devon
EX16 8LW
GB