Dodoens' 1616 Herbal with 1,341 Illustrations of Plants, A Tall Copy in a Period Binding and in Fine Condition

STIRPIVM HISTORIÆ PEMPTADES SEX.

DODOENS, REMBERT.

(Antverpiæ [Antwerp]: Ex officina Plantiniana Apud Balthasarem et Ioannem Moretos, 1616). 375 x 240 mm. (14 3/4 x 9 1/2"). 8 p.l., 872 pp., [36] leaves (including the final blank). Second Plantin Edition.

Contemporary blind panelled calf over wooden boards, covers with three wide frames, each with a different stylized floral pattern and separated by triple rules, thick raised bands, very expertly rebacked in period style, double raised bands, clasps lacking. Housed in a fine thickly-lined linen clamshell box. Elaborately engraved title page featuring figures of Adam, Solomon, Theophrastus, and Dioscorides, large woodcut Plantin compass device on colophon leaf, and MORE THAN 1,300 WOODCUTS OF PLANTS in the text. Front pastedown with bookplate of the Horticultural Society of New York, stamp of the society on title page, extensive notes in Latin in an old hand on colophon leaf, the two following blanks, and the rear pastedown, some neatly pencilled marginalia in English in the text. Hunt 201; Pritzel 2350; Wellcome I, 1824; Nissen 517; Brunet II, 786; USTC 1005046. ◆Covers a bit abraded, but the handsome early binding entirely solid and quite pleasing. A handful of leaves with light inoffensive marginal dampstains, infrequent quite minor spots, other trivial imperfections, but AN EXTREMELY WELL-PRESERVED COPY, the leaves very fresh and smooth, and without any of the serious soiling, tearing, and fraying that typically afflicts early herbals.

This is an exceedingly appealing copy of the handsomely printed second and definitive appearance (described by Hunt as the "best revised and enlarged edition") of the fine Plantin 1583 Latin edition of Dodoens' important herbal, originally issued by Jan van der Loe in Dutch in 1544. For this book, which contains original descriptions of living plants, van der Loe obtained the woodblocks that had been employed in the octavo editions of Fuchs' work and Dodoens' "Cruydeboeck," but he added approximately 200 new engravings, apparently after drawings by Pieter van der Borcht. Some 137 more illustrations were added to the French edition of 1557, which was translated into English as "A Niewe Herball or Historie of Plantes" in 1578. The work had yet to come out in Latin, however, and Plantin undertook to remedy this in 1583. This time the number of illustrations reached 1,341, including those used by van der Loe as well as many new ones. One of the great botanical names of his era, Dodoens (1518-85) is generally credited with making substantial advances in systematic botany by collecting and describing new species and by providing good botanical illustrations. The present work is important in its authenticity in that Dodoens brought fresh plants for his illustrators to copy, and he oversaw their labor. Our edition is not rare, but our copy is significantly taller than competing copies currently or recently in the marketplace. Like most early herbals, this work is very seldom found in anything except defective or sadly used condition, and to find a copy as attractive as the present one, especially in an elaborately decorated contemporaneous binding, is very fortunate. (ST19567-053)

Price: $6,500.00