Beschreibung
First edition, variant A. Two volumes. [Nuremberg (and Altdorf): K. Bauer,] 1613. Broadsheet folio (21 1/8" x 17 1/8", 540mm x 434mm). [Full collation available.] With 369 of 371 engraved plates; an engraved title and 4 class (i.e., season)-titles plus 364 (of 366) botanical plates, all but one (the upper portion of the "Martagon imperiale," blank verso) with text verso. Lacking 2 privilege leaves and one leaf of the German index to the Summer section. Bound in later (XVIIIc?) half mottled calf over magenta paste-paper. On the spine, six raised bands. Author and title gilt to green morocco in the second panel, number gilt to beige morocco in the third, paper shelf-label to the sixth. All edges of the text-block speckled red-and-black. General wear to the extremities, with some bumps. Head- and tail-pieces of vol. II splitting. Internally, dampstaining to the first three dozen leaves of vol. I, mostly moderate but occasionally heavy, and to the last three dozen leaves, mostly mild. Concomitant marginal chipping and earlier campaigns of (excessive) repair to those leaves. Worming at the gutter of the title-leaf through )(1 (4 leaves) of vol. I, not affecting the text. Vol. II superior, albeit with passages of soiling and water-staining around Kk)()(2. A handful of leaves trimmed at the fore. Lacking five leaves. In vol. I: the two privilege leaves and B4)(1 (fol. 2 of the 5th order of Spring, the text of the Corona Imperialis recto and the plate of the Corona Imperialis Polyanthos verso). In vol. II: Dd14)(2sub1 (fol. 4 of the 14th order of Summer, the text of the Caryophyllus flore maiore recto and the plate of the Caryophyllus multiplex verso) and one leaf of the German index to the Summer section (Ff1). Armorial bookplate of the St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw ("Ex libris bibliothecæ collegii Sancti Cuthberti") to the front paste-down of each volume with (their?) shelfmark above (vol. I) or opposite (vol. II) in graphite, with copious booksellers' notes to the recto and verso of the free end-paper of vol. I. Basilius Besler (1561-1629) was born a little before the death of Leonhart Fuchs, the last of the three German fathers of botany -- Brunfels and Bock preceding him -- and his magnum opus, the Hortus Eystettensis, shows just how far the discipline had come in the Protestant North of Europe. Besler was a Nuremberg apothecary, which in the period was nearly synonymous with being a botanist; medical treatments were largely compounded from botanical "simples." Eichstätt, some 35 miles south of Nuremberg and 50 miles north of Munich, was the seat of the Catholic Prince-bishop Johann Konrad von Gemmingen (1561-1612) and his botanic gardens, then the most splendid in Germany. From 1598 Besler managed Gemmingen's gardens at Willibaldsburg castle. The Prince-bishop did not survive to see the book published in early 1613; the earliest issues are still dedicated to him (as is the present copy), whereas later ones have a dedication to his successor, Johann Christoph von Wetterstetten. There are further distinctions of issue; the present one, with text printed on the same sheet as the plates, as well as versions with text on separate leaves -- usually called the de luxe edition, meant as gifts, and nearly always colored -- or altogether absent. The engraving itself -- carried out principally by Wolfgang Kilian -- is of an exceptional standard. Unlike much engraving of the period, which includes etching, the plates of the Hortus are executed purely with the burin (graver). The images are some of the most celebrated Renaissance flower-portraits, especially the full-page sunflower. In the Summer and Autumn classes are many New World plants, including melons and peppers. The present example was in the library of St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw in Co. Durham, a seminary founded in 1808. Purchased at Sotheby's London 17 November 2005, lot 60. Nissen, BBI 158; Pritzel 745; Stafleu-Cowan 497; VD17 39:126168X (var. A). Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers JLR0551
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