Croatian Encyclopaedists

Now we have come to a very rich history of the Croatian Encyclopaedia. Its origins go back to the first half of the 15th century.

The earliest known lexicographic work is a handwritten book “Liber de simplicibus” (The book about medicinal herbs), prepared in Zadar and Venice between 1415 and 1453. Written by an Italian physician and Zadar protophysicist Nicolo Roccabonelli, it contains very nice drawings of various plants together with their Croatian, Latin, Greek, Arabic and in part German names. It is held in the Venetian national library Marciana.