Item #694 Apparatus plantarius primus...in duos libros. I. De plantis bulbosis. II. De plantis tuberosis... Horticultura, libris II. Petrus LAUREMBERG.
Apparatus plantarius primus...in duos libros. I. De plantis bulbosis. II. De plantis tuberosis... Horticultura, libris II
Apparatus plantarius primus...in duos libros. I. De plantis bulbosis. II. De plantis tuberosis... Horticultura, libris II
Apparatus plantarius primus...in duos libros. I. De plantis bulbosis. II. De plantis tuberosis... Horticultura, libris II
Apparatus plantarius primus...in duos libros. I. De plantis bulbosis. II. De plantis tuberosis... Horticultura, libris II
Apparatus plantarius primus...in duos libros. I. De plantis bulbosis. II. De plantis tuberosis... Horticultura, libris II
Apparatus plantarius primus...in duos libros. I. De plantis bulbosis. II. De plantis tuberosis... Horticultura, libris II
Garden Art in 17th-Century Germany
Illustrated with Eight Plates of Intricate Mazes
Frankfurt, Matthaeus Merian, 1631-1632

Apparatus plantarius primus...in duos libros. I. De plantis bulbosis. II. De plantis tuberosis... Horticultura, libris II.

4to. 1. 168 pp., including engraved title-page, and 35 full-page engravings in text. 2. 196 pp., including 6 full-page plates containing 28 numbered figures of planting, grafting etc., and 23 full-page plates of garden tools, misbound to follow last page of work described above, and lacking the final blank. Bound in contemporary vellum over boards; title written in ink on spine in a neat hand. Light toning in outer margin of first t-p and in text; old repair of tear in right margin of t-p without any loss of printed surface. Generally excellent.

First editions of these important botanical and horticultural works by the botanist and anatomist Peter Lauremberg.

Horticultura is one of the most highly regarded 17th-century garden manuals, containing many original horticultural experiments which ran contrary to accepted botany; a known influence on John Evelyn, the work is "typical of the experience and ideas that begin to flow into botany from horticulture" - Morton, p. 222. The work contains eight full-page illustrations of mazes, and also several of elaborate parterres.

Encyclopedic in scope, the first part treats plant reproduction, compatibility of different species, methods of propagation (seed, stolon, cutting), pruning and irrigation. Part two covers the design and lay-out of orchards, flower and herb gardens, and ends with a list of plants with medicinal uses.

The illustrations include 2 full-page illustrations of topiaries and 17 full-page plates of geometric and labyrinthine garden patterns, reminiscent of Peschel's Garten Ordnung, a work which, according to Gothein, the Horticultura succeeded as the standard guide to garden design (German edition 1671). (History of Garden Art, II, p. 24).

Apparatus plantarius gives botanical descriptions of 18 tuberose and 24 bulbous plants. The flower garden receives its due, with 67 varieties of hyacinth, 22 crocus and no less than 144 tulips? just in time for the height of Dutch "tulip-mania". The work also treats nomenclature, species and differentia, vines, culinary and medical applications as well as methods of planting, tending and propagating.

Peter Lauremberg (1575-1639) was an anatomist and a professor of botany in his native Rostock and in Hamburg. The illustrations of the two books are the work of Matthias Merian (1593-1650), engraver and printer, friend of Jacques Callot and partner of Theodor de Bry. The finely executed engravings testify to the talent and skill of Merian as a master engraver.



* Nissen 1147; Hunt 219, 221; Thorndike VIII.7, 10-11; Morton, p. 222; ADB XVIII.59. See Benezit, vol.7, p.343 and NBG, vol.35, p.55 for M. Merian.

Price: $4,500.00

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