The books highlighted here were included in the 2006 exhibition Luxuriant Nature Smiling Round, curated by Jennifer Barr, Rima Giurnius and Eric Pumroy. The books in the exhibition were drawn from the extensive collection of illustrated books donated to Bryn Mawr College in 1971 by Ethelinda Schaefer Castle, Class of 1908.
Herbarius Latinus. Venice: Simon Bevilaqua, 14 December 1499.
This is the first Venetian edition of the Herbarius Latinus, an important herbal compilation from classical, medieval and Arabic sources. The text is drawn primarily from the encyclopedic Speculum naturale of the Dominican scholar Vincent of Beauvais (d.1264), and was such a popular work that it was printed nearly a dozen times before 1500. The woodblock prints in this book were first used in a 1491 edition printed in Vincenza, and are typical of the simple early woodblock prints that show only a rough outline of the plant.
Matthias de L'Obel (1538-1616). Icones Stirpium: seu Plantarum tam Exoticarum, quam indigenarum: in gratiam rei herbariae studiosorum in duas partes digestae: cum septem linguarum indicibus, ad diversarum nationum usum. Antwerp: Ex Officina Plantiniana, 1591.
The Flemish Mathias de L'Obel was physician to William of Orange and later became a botanist for James I of England. L'Obel's reputation rests primarily on his system of plant classification in which the shape and other properties of leaves serve as distinguishing markers of a group. The Icones Stirpium is entirely a picture book lacking in text. The hundreds of accurate plant woodcuts are intended to serve as a visual index for physicians, gardeners and artists to aid in the identification of plants.
William Turner (1510-1568). The first and seconde partes of the herbal of William Turner, doctor in phisick . . . Cologne: Arnold Birckman, 1568
Although remembered primarily as a theologian whose strong views led to his imprisonment and censorship, William Turner is considered to be the "father of British Botany" because of this work. Turner described over 200 species native to England, some of which were first named by him. He was strongly critical of prevailing superstitions in science, rejecting in particular the belief that the mandrake root (seen at left) resembled a human being. On the right is the description of the Amaradulcis or Bittersweet, a common plant found in hedgerows and along ditches and used by shepherds for protection from harm.
Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1500-1577). Petri Andreae Matthioli senensis medici: commentarij in sex libros Pedacij Dioscoridis Anazarbei De materia medica. Vence: Ex Officinia Valgrisiana, 1565.
An Italian botanist and physician to Emperor Maximilian II, Mattioli is remembered primarily for his translation and exposition on the ancient Greek botanist Pedanius Dioscorides, perhaps the single most influential authority on pharmacy for over 1500 years. Dioscorides identified some five hundred medicinal plants but described them imperfectly, thus providing much material for commentary and discussion throughout the following centuries. Matthioli's commentary was illustrated by aesthetically pleasing but misleading woodcuts. The artists worked from dried plant specimens rather than living ones, and designed the illustrations to fit the block rather than reflect the natural growth pattern of the plants. The pages seen here illustrate Psyllium (on the left), also known Fleawort because of the resemblance of the seeds to fleas, and Garden Nightshade (Solanum Hortense), which is on the right. Psyllium was used as a mild laxative, while the leaves of Garden Nightshade were used to cure headache and shingles when applied externally.
Johannes Commelin (1629 - 1692). Horti medici amstelodamensis rariorum tam Orientalis, quam Occidentalis Indiae, aliarumque peregrinarum plantarum, magno studio ac labore, sumptibus Civitatis amstelodamensis, longa annorum serie collectarum, descriptio et icones ad vivum aeri incisae. 2 volumes. Amsterdam: P. & J. Blaue, 1697-1701.
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Johannes Commelin was a Dutch spice merchant who used his wealth and connections to build the Amsterdam Botanical Gardens into Europe's leading center for the study of botany in the late seventeenth century. Holland's central position in international trade made Amsterdam the ideal location to collect and study the exotic plants discovered by Europeans in the East Indies, Africa and the Americas, such as the Aster africanus, shown here. Commelin wrote much of the text for the work, but it was completed by his nephew, Caspar Commelin (1667-1731) after this death. The original paintings for the engravings were by Jan and Maria Moninckx. |
Elizabeth Blackwell (1700-1758). A curious herbal: containing five hundred cuts, of the most useful plants, which are used in the practice of physick, engraved on folio copper plates, after drawings, taken from the life, by Elizabeth Blackwell. To which is added a short description of ye plants; and their common uses in physick. London: Printed for C. Nourse, 1782
Elizabeth Blackwell wrote and illustrated her Curious Herbal in the hope of earning enough money to secure her husband's release from debtor's prison. Blackwell, the daughter of a successful Scottish businessman, was encouraged in the project by members of the Royal College of Physicians who saw the need for an up-to-date herbal that included accurate illustrations and information about newly-discovered plants from the Americas. Blackwell did both the original drawings and engravings for the work, based on living specimens in the Chelsea Physic Garden, while the text was largely taken from Joseph Miller's Botanicum Officinale of 1722. The work was issued in weekly installments between 1737 and 1739, each with four plates and a page of text. It was reissued a number of times, including this 1782 edition by the original publisher. Blackwell succeeded in freeing her husband from debtor's prison with this book, but his business adventures led him into far worse troubles. A few years after his release from prison he traveled to Sweden where he was arrested and eventually executed for his involvement in a plot against the royal family.
Crispijn van de Passe (d. 1670). Hortus Floridus in quo rariorum & minus vulgarium florum icones ad vivam varamque formam accuratissime delineatae. Arnheim : apud Ioannem Ianssonium, 1614.
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One of the earliest florilegia, the Hortus Floridus contains realistic and delicate prints created by Crispin van de Passe, a member of a famous family of Dutch artists. The book is divided into four sections, each corresponding with one of the seasons and prefaced with an engraving of a model garden. Most of the flowers shown are tulips, hyacinths, crocuses and other bulb plants, the new enthusiasm of the increasingly prosperous Dutch citizenry. Van de Passe's work both documented and stimulated the Dutch passion for bulbs, which eventually led to the 'tulipomania' of 1636-1637, when speculation in tulip bulbs led to a financial crash. Unlike earlier botanical works in which the plants were shown by themselves, van de Passe placed his specimens in a natural environment, often accompanied by insects and animals that provide a narrative element to the images. The ground level perspective of the illustrations reflects the tradition of Dutch landscape painting, characterized by atmospheric and panoramic views of the flat Dutch landscape set against a low horizon and dominated by a vast and expansive sky. |
John Parkinson (1567-1650). Paradisi in sole paradisus terrestis, Or, A choise garden of all sorts of rarest flowers, with their nature, place of birth, time of flowring, names, and vertues to each plant, useful in physick, or admired for beauty . . . The second impression much corrected and enlarged. London: Printed by R. N. and are to be sold by Richard Thrale, 1656.
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Paradisi in Sole was the first important gardening book produced in England. Parkinson, apothecary to both James I and Charles I of England, devoted the last thirty years of his life to tending his large garden outside of London. His book reflects the growing interest in gardening as a form of pleasure and recreation, and was intended to serve as a guide to beginners on how to lay out a garden, what plants to include, and how to care for and improve the plant stock. The title translated from Latin into English forms a pun on Parkinson's name: "Park in sun's earthly paradise." The title page showing Adam and Eve enjoying a cornucopia of pleasures in paradise reflects Parkinson's belief that each garden can be a miniature Eden. A small 'vegetable lamb' in the middle ground is a figure of folklore, said to spring directly from the ground on a stalk and feed on the nearby vegetation. Many of the illustrations of individual plants were copied from the works of others, particularly Crispin van de Passe and Mathias. The book first appeared in 1629. The Castle Collection copy is the second edition of 1656. |
Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811). Flora Rossica; seu stirpium Imperii Rossici per European et Asian ingigenarum descriptiones et icones. Iussu et auspiciis Catharinae II, augustae, edidit P. S. Pallas. 2 volumes. St. Petersburg: J. J. Weitbrecht, 1784-1788.
In 1767 the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas was invited to teach at the St. Petersburg Academy of Science as part of Catherine the Great's effort to fashion herself as an enlightened ruler and bring Russia into the cultural life of the West. Catherine commissioned Pallas to catalogue the plants and animals native to Russia and sponsored his many expeditions to Siberia and other rarely-visited regions where he sought and collected new specimens. These expeditions won Pallas international fame and established him as a leading botanist. Pallas lived in Russia for the rest of his life, retiring eventually to Crimea where he lived on an estate given to him by Catherine. The title page of Flora Rossica, seen at left, pays homage to the patronage of Catherine, representing her in the guise of Athena, the benevolent Greek goddess of Wisdom and Justice. Resplendent in the usual accoutrements of the goddess, Catherine presents a book, presumably the Flora Rossica, to a group of plant-bearing cherubs. The hand-colored copper engravings are after drawings by F.K. Knappe, a member of the Russian Academy of Art.
Robert Furber (ca.1674-1756). The flower-garden display'd: in above four hundred curious representations of the most beautiful flowers, regularly dispos'd in the respective months of their blossom, curiously engrav'd on copper-plates from the designs of Mr. Furber, and others; and coloured to the life with the description and history of each plant, and the method of their culture. Second edition. London: Printed for R. Montague, 1734.
Robert Furber, the founder and gardener of Kensington Nurseries, produced this gardening manual in cooperation with Richard Bradley (1688-1732), a professor of botany at Cambridge University. The book is illustrated with twelve plates that are reduced versions from Furber's earlier Twelve Months of Flowers, a folio work that was conceived as a flower catalog. The flower-garden display'd is a smaller, less expensive version that was produced for the broader public. The book contains an illustration for each month showing a large bouquet of flowers with specimens appropriate for the season. Each flower is numbered and listed, followed by a brief description of its properties and advice on growing it.
The Compleat Florist. London: Printed for J. Duke, 1747.
This gardening guide by an anonymous author consists of 100 engraved and hand-colored plates. Produced for popular consumption, this collection of plants reflects the tastes current in Great Britain in the mid-eighteenth century. The book consists entirely of pictures of flowering plants, accompanied by brief notes with advice on cultivation. Although the book was mass-produced, few copies survived rough handling by avid gardeners.
Pierre Joseph Redouté (1759-1840). Les roses. 3 Volumes. Paris: Firmin Didot, 1817-1824.
Redouté's most popular work, Les roses, was born of a project initiated by the Empress Josephine who in 1798 purchased Malmaison, an estate north of Paris, and began to assemble a collection of rare and foreign plants. She engaged Redouté to record the glories of her garden, including the collection of roses established in 1804. Published in three volumes from 1817 to 1824, Les Roses features 168 plates by Redouté that exemplify the technique of stipple engraving, a method that he learned from the Florentine engraver Francesco Bartolozzi. This method consists of stippling dots on a plate with a needle called the "roulette." Stipple engravings can produce subtle shading effects and, when printed in color and finished by hand, can imitate the effect of a watercolor. The pages shown here includes the plate printed in color, as well as an uncolored print.
Robert John Thornton (1768?-1837). The temple of Flora: or, Garden of nature, being picturesque botanical plates of the new illustration of the sexual system of Linnaeus. London: Printed for the publisher [i.e., the author], 1799\
This product of the Romantic Age was originally intended as a tribute to Linnaeus, the inventor of the modern system for classifying plants. Instead, it is far better known as the most melodramatic of botanical books, featuring sensational flora set in exotic landscapes, coupled with nature poetry by Henry James Pye, Erasmus Darwin, and other writers of the age. Thornton is most famous for the striking landscapes in the background of the flower drawings, with scenes that he deemed most aesthetically appropriate to the subject. Thus the Nightblooming Cereus (at left) sways in the moonlight with the turret-clock pointing to midnight, the hour when the flower is in full bloom. The Mimosa (Calliandra grandiflora, at the right) is located in the mountains of Jamaica where it was first discovered, and is surrounded by hummingbirds native to that country. Thornton was a medical doctor and amateur botanist who devoted his considerable inheritance to the production of what was meant to be a grand three-volume work that would demonstrate British capability in both botany and the printing arts. He did the basic designs for the illustrations, but the actual paintings were done by Abraham Pether, Philip Reinagle, and several other British artists. In the end, the book found only a small market and Thornton was forced into bankruptcy.
The title of this exhibition, Luxuriant Nature smiling round, is from the poem by Dr. Shaw that accompanied the Mimosa plate.