This is the first complete edition of „Das Büchlein der Gesundheit“, based on Trieste, Biblioteca Civica Attilio Hortis, MS 2–25, written in a late fifteenth-century Bavarian dialect. It is an excellent representative of the popular genre of the „regimen sanitatis“, a practical compendium of predominantly preventive medicine. It consists of six tractates: Tractate I, on the four seasons, the four complexions and the twelve months of the year; Tractate II, on the non-naturals; Tractates III–V, on individual foodstuffs; Tractate VI, on mainly medicinal plants, on „branntwein“, and on fevers, dysentry, menstruation, and the plague.

Claire V. Fennell holds a PhD degree in comparative medieval literature (English, French and German) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The focus of her research is mainly on the non-fictional aspects of literature, including hunting, law and medicine. Her recent publications include the critical edition of „A Middle English Statute-Book“. She has taught at Bologna University, with a ten-year break working for the Italian Cultural Institute in Munich, Addis Abeba and Krakow. She retired from her post at Trieste University in 2013.