Plague Water, Anyone? A Distillery Delves Into Medieval Mixology

Tattersall’s project draws on the vast holdings of the WangensteenHistorical Library of Biology and Medicine at the University of Minnesota, one of the nation’s premier collections of medieval and early modern medical texts. Among its 72,000 volumes, some dating back to 1430, are hundreds of books detailing the curative properties of roots, weeds, seeds, metals and even animal parts like skins and horn.