ALBERTUS MAGNUS. Naturalia Alberti Magni darinn durch sechsz Kürze Büchlin viel hainligkaiten der Natur beschrieben. Von Weibern und gebürten der Kinder... Auch lebendiger abcontrafactur ettlicher Kreuter... Alles von newem gebessert durch Q. Apollinarem [i.e., W. H. Ryff]. (Strassburg: Jacob Cammerlander, 1548). 4to, 192 x 146 mm., contemporary quarter pigskin over beech boards, wood covers ruled in blind, the pigskin tooled in blind with roll-tool of saints, one metal catch (of two, lacking clasps), upper inner hinge split, some minor marginal dampstaining, occasional light spotting. Gothic type, title woodcut of an author writing at a desk between vertical strip borders of putti, letterpress caption on right, "Ja. Camerlander", 5 full-page or nearly full-page woodcuts of genre scenes showing scholars, physicians, an apothecary, etc., one full-page cut of a blood-letting man, 17 small woodcuts of foetuses in the womb and a birthing chair, 70 text woodcuts of plants, quarter-page or slightly larger, several printed sideways, most with letterpress German names, woodcuts of plants, 7 cuts of astrological figures, each printed next to a plant cut, with strip border at bottom or top to match the size of the plant cut, woodcut tail-piece ornaments, large woodcut printer's device on verso of last leaf. Nissen BBI 12a; Ritter 31.Second edition of this hugely popular vernacular compilation, edited by Walther Hermann Ryff and first published in 1545, of the works of Albertus Magnus (c. 1193-1280), containing sections on obstetrics, botany, mineralogy and zoology, translated from De secretis mulierum and Liber aggregationis, with the addition of two anonymous treatises, on medicinal waters and on diet in times of plague. The woodcuts have various sources: some of the larger cuts come from earlier Strassburg editions of Brunschwig's Chirurgia and Destillierbuch, the obstetrical cuts derive from Rösslin's Der Schwangeren Frawen und Hebammen Rosegarten, and the plant woodcuts appear to be copied from Egenolff's reduced versions of Hans Weiditz's cuts for Brunfels. The book was very widely read: Benzing lists 33 editions published between 1545 and 1734, all now extremely rare. The only copy to appear at auction in the past 25 or more years has been a copy of the 1571 edition in a modern half binding (last sold at Sotheby's, London, 11 November 1994, lot 8, 2,600). This edition is listed neither in BM/STC, NLM/Durling (holding 3 later editions only), Waller, or Adams.Provenance: "Duplum" inscription on front flyleaf (Munich Staatsbibliothek?) -- Kenneth K. Mackenzie; Horticultural Society of New York, bookplate and blindstamp.

ALBERTUS MAGNUS. Naturalia Alberti Magni darinn durch sechsz Kürze Büchlin viel hainligkaiten der Natur beschrieben. Von Weibern und gebürten der Kinder... Auch lebendiger abcontrafactur ettlicher Kreuter... Alles von newem gebessert durch Q. Apollinarem [i.e., W. H. Ryff]. (Strassburg: Jacob Cammerlander, 1548). 4to, 192 x 146 mm., contemporary quarter pigskin over beech boards, wood covers ruled in blind, the pigskin tooled in blind with roll-tool of saints, one metal catch (of two, lacking clasps), upper inner hinge split, some minor marginal dampstaining, occasional light spotting. Gothic type, title woodcut of an author writing at a desk between vertical strip borders of putti, letterpress caption on right, "Ja. Camerlander", 5 full-page or nearly full-page woodcuts of genre scenes showing scholars, physicians, an apothecary, etc., one full-page cut of a blood-letting man, 17 small woodcuts of foetuses in the womb and a birthing chair, 70 text woodcuts of plants, quarter-page or slightly larger, several printed sideways, most with letterpress German names, woodcuts of plants, 7 cuts of astrological figures, each printed next to a plant cut, with strip border at bottom or top to match the size of the plant cut, woodcut tail-piece ornaments, large woodcut printer's device on verso of last leaf. Nissen BBI 12a; Ritter 31. Second edition of this hugely popular vernacular compilation, edited by Walther Hermann Ryff and first published in 1545, of the works of Albertus Magnus (c. 1193-1280), containing sections on obstetrics, botany, mineralogy and zoology, translated from De secretis mulierum and Liber aggregationis, with the addition of two anonymous treatises, on medicinal waters and on diet in times of plague. The woodcuts have various sources: some of the larger cuts come from earlier Strassburg editions of Brunschwig's Chirurgia and Destillierbuch, the obstetrical cuts derive from Rösslin's Der Schwangeren Frawen und Hebammen Rosegarten, and the plant woodcuts appear to be copied from Egenolff's reduced versions of Hans Weiditz's cuts for Brunfels. The book was very widely read: Benzing lists 33 editions published between 1545 and 1734, all now extremely rare. The only copy to appear at auction in the past 25 or more years has been a copy of the 1571 edition in a modern half binding (last sold at Sotheby's, London, 11 November 1994, lot 8, 2,600). This edition is listed neither in BM/STC, NLM/Durling (holding 3 later editions only), Waller, or Adams. Provenance: "Duplum" inscription on front flyleaf (Munich Staatsbibliothek?) -- Kenneth K. Mackenzie; Horticultural Society of New York, bookplate and blindstamp.

Details

ALBERTUS MAGNUS. Naturalia Alberti Magni darinn durch sechsz Kürze Büchlin viel hainligkaiten der Natur beschrieben. Von Weibern und gebürten der Kinder... Auch lebendiger abcontrafactur ettlicher Kreuter... Alles von newem gebessert durch Q. Apollinarem [i.e., W. H. Ryff]. (Strassburg: Jacob Cammerlander, 1548). 4to, 192 x 146 mm., contemporary quarter pigskin over beech boards, wood covers ruled in blind, the pigskin tooled in blind with roll-tool of saints, one metal catch (of two, lacking clasps), upper inner hinge split, some minor marginal dampstaining, occasional light spotting. Gothic type, title woodcut of an author writing at a desk between vertical strip borders of putti, letterpress caption on right, "Ja. Camerlander", 5 full-page or nearly full-page woodcuts of genre scenes showing scholars, physicians, an apothecary, etc., one full-page cut of a blood-letting man, 17 small woodcuts of foetuses in the womb and a birthing chair, 70 text woodcuts of plants, quarter-page or slightly larger, several printed sideways, most with letterpress German names, woodcuts of plants, 7 cuts of astrological figures, each printed next to a plant cut, with strip border at bottom or top to match the size of the plant cut, woodcut tail-piece ornaments, large woodcut printer's device on verso of last leaf. Nissen BBI 12a; Ritter 31.

Second edition of this hugely popular vernacular compilation, edited by Walther Hermann Ryff and first published in 1545, of the works of Albertus Magnus (c. 1193-1280), containing sections on obstetrics, botany, mineralogy and zoology, translated from De secretis mulierum and Liber aggregationis, with the addition of two anonymous treatises, on medicinal waters and on diet in times of plague. The woodcuts have various sources: some of the larger cuts come from earlier Strassburg editions of Brunschwig's Chirurgia and Destillierbuch, the obstetrical cuts derive from Rösslin's Der Schwangeren Frawen und Hebammen Rosegarten, and the plant woodcuts appear to be copied from Egenolff's reduced versions of Hans Weiditz's cuts for Brunfels. The book was very widely read: Benzing lists 33 editions published between 1545 and 1734, all now extremely rare. The only copy to appear at auction in the past 25 or more years has been a copy of the 1571 edition in a modern half binding (last sold at Sotheby's, London, 11 November 1994, lot 8, 2,600). This edition is listed neither in BM/STC, NLM/Durling (holding 3 later editions only), Waller, or Adams.

Provenance: "Duplum" inscription on front flyleaf (Munich Staatsbibliothek?) -- Kenneth K. Mackenzie; Horticultural Society of New York, bookplate and blindstamp.

More from An Important Botanical Library, Part II

View All