Details
Herbarum imagines vivae. Frankfurt: Christian Egenolph 1536.
2 parts in one, chancery 4to, 174 x 131mm. (6 7/8 x 5 1/8 in.), contemporary vellum, remains of original leather ties, pastedowns torn, small holes to several leaves at sewing, cropping to woodcuts of both titles, to headlines of L3, and to foliation of several leaves, internal tears or holes to G1-3 and b4, severe abrasion and staining to G1-H1, approximately 20 other leaves with small abraded spots, staining throughout (mainly from coloring), soiling.
Collation: A-L4; a-e4 f2. 68 leaves (44 + 22), including 6 leaves of indices. Latin captions in roman type, German captions in gothic. Titles in roman and gothic type set within border of woodcuts repeated from the text, part 2 title with small woodcut tail-piece showing a pastoral scene, 256 SMALL WOODCUTS on 60 leaves, one to six per page, with captions in Latin and German, THE WOODCUTS COLORED BY A CONTEMPORARY HAND.
VERY RARE popular edition, presumably intended for easy consultation in the field, the text being limited to the Latin and German captions and the indices. Adams and BM/STC list copies of the first part dated 1535; the present copy is probably a reissue, with the colophon date altered to 1536 to accompany the second part. Many of the woodcuts are reduced adaptations of Hans Weiditz's cuts for Brunfels's Herbarum vivae eicones, first published in Strassburg by J. Schott in 1530-32. Christian Egenolph had pirated these cuts and included them in his edition of Eucharius Rösslin's Kreutterbuch in 1533, but Schott had sued successfully for their recovery a year later. The woodcuts of the present edition were very likely copied from the pirated woodcuts.
Adams H293; BM/STC German p. 396; NLM/Durling 1350 (1538 edition of part 2); Pritzel 2626.
Provenance: Copious contemporary marginalia (some cropped) in two principal hands, in German and Latin, including alternate names for the plants in German, Greek and French; two early inscriptions on front flyleaf, the first in Latin, noting that a certain plant (name given in Greek) is effective against the bite of a rabid dog; the second a recipe in French; Juan Carlos Ahumada, bookplate and ink stamps on flyleaves; the present owner.
2 parts in one, chancery 4to, 174 x 131mm. (6 7/8 x 5 1/8 in.), contemporary vellum, remains of original leather ties, pastedowns torn, small holes to several leaves at sewing, cropping to woodcuts of both titles, to headlines of L3, and to foliation of several leaves, internal tears or holes to G1-3 and b4, severe abrasion and staining to G1-H1, approximately 20 other leaves with small abraded spots, staining throughout (mainly from coloring), soiling.
Collation: A-L4; a-e4 f2. 68 leaves (44 + 22), including 6 leaves of indices. Latin captions in roman type, German captions in gothic. Titles in roman and gothic type set within border of woodcuts repeated from the text, part 2 title with small woodcut tail-piece showing a pastoral scene, 256 SMALL WOODCUTS on 60 leaves, one to six per page, with captions in Latin and German, THE WOODCUTS COLORED BY A CONTEMPORARY HAND.
VERY RARE popular edition, presumably intended for easy consultation in the field, the text being limited to the Latin and German captions and the indices. Adams and BM/STC list copies of the first part dated 1535; the present copy is probably a reissue, with the colophon date altered to 1536 to accompany the second part. Many of the woodcuts are reduced adaptations of Hans Weiditz's cuts for Brunfels's Herbarum vivae eicones, first published in Strassburg by J. Schott in 1530-32. Christian Egenolph had pirated these cuts and included them in his edition of Eucharius Rösslin's Kreutterbuch in 1533, but Schott had sued successfully for their recovery a year later. The woodcuts of the present edition were very likely copied from the pirated woodcuts.
Adams H293; BM/STC German p. 396; NLM/Durling 1350 (1538 edition of part 2); Pritzel 2626.
Provenance: Copious contemporary marginalia (some cropped) in two principal hands, in German and Latin, including alternate names for the plants in German, Greek and French; two early inscriptions on front flyleaf, the first in Latin, noting that a certain plant (name given in Greek) is effective against the bite of a rabid dog; the second a recipe in French; Juan Carlos Ahumada, bookplate and ink stamps on flyleaves; the present owner.