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HISTORIA UND BESCHREIBUNG INFLUENTISCHER, ELEMENTISCHER UND NATÜRLICHER WIRCKUNGEN.
(Berlin: Michael Hentzke, 1578). 387 x 254 mm. (15 1/4 x 10"). 6 p.l., 1-20, 20-21, 21-156 pp. (mispaginated but complete), [6] leaves (index, colophon). First Edition in German.
Recent full vellum, smooth spine, boards distressed and spotted to suggest age. Title page with an elaborate woodcut frame, three-quarter page portraits of the author and of a deity, large woodcut decoration on colophon, and 36 BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATIONS, 12 ASTROLOGICAL CHARTS, and numerous small woodcuts depicting animals, plants, and scientific apparatuses (some repetitions) in the text. Durling 4353; Wellcome I, 6300; Bibliotheca Chemica II, 451; Bibliotheca Walleriana I, 9577; Pritzel 9339; VD16 T 1174; Nissen 1963. Text washed and resized, with vestiges of moisture on title and leaves here and there, a few expertly repaired tears, but the book's dampstains and soiling largely gone, and the leaves with restored freshness. A worked-on but pleasing copy.
This fully illustrated tall folio is a work of medical botany that reflects its eccentric author's interests in alchemy, astrology, and art. An active and remarkably prosperous doctor, soldier, alchemist, goldsmith, and metallurgist, Thurneisser (also Thurneysser, 1531-96) led a life filled with incident and controversy. Born in Basel, he travelled throughout Europe as well as into Africa and Asia, and he at one time employed more than 200 persons, several of whom worked at the printing press he established in Berlin. He lost much of his money through a lawsuit brought by his wife, and his influence was undermined by accusations that he practiced magic and that he had a devil in a bottle who coached him in the writing of languages he didn't know. His character was generally acknowledged to be wanting, and accusations of how he bilked the credulous through healing scams were so frequent that they seem difficult to deny. Like the polarizing Paracelsus, with whom he allied himself, Thurneisser produced writings reflecting an incongruous mixture of science and superstition. The present work, which was published concurrently in Latin and German, was initially intended to be the first part of 10 sections discussing the properties of plants, although the remaining nine were never published. It deals with plants in the Umbelliferae (Apiaceae) family, which includes carrots, celery, and hemlock, among others. It details their medical uses and composition, but also their astrological and mystical characteristics. While perhaps textually abstruse, Bibliotheca Chemica tells us that "as a piece of printing this is a remarkable book." An enormous number of different types are used to great effect, and the text is studded with charming miniature woodcuts depicting chemical equipment, animals, and human figures (sometimes as a skeleton or vascular system). The illustrations of the plant species discussed are surrounded by wonderfully detailed borders, which include elaborate neoclassical figures, the species' names in Greek, Hebrew, and sometimes Syriac, and their associated constellations. These illustrations, along with the ostentatious woodcut title page, are the work of Franz Friedrich after designs by Peter Hille, who worked as block-cutter in Thurneisser's Berlin press. (ST20858b)
Price: $4,500.00