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RUEL, Jean (1479-1537). De Natura stirpium libri tres. Paris: Simon de Colines, 1536.
2o (382 x 255 mm). Elaborate woodcut title-border, incorporating Colines's device in the lower right-hand corner, numerous criblé initials in several sizes, including large blocks from the Tory alphabet. (Tiny wormhole in extreme lower margin of second half of volume.) 18th-century calf gilt (rebacked). Provenance: Bibliotheque de Sorbonne (inkstamp on title, a1r and on final leaf); Jean-Baptiste Huzard (1755-1838), French agronomist, whose library of over 40,000 books was one of the largest and most complete ever in the fields of natural history, agriculture, rural economy and medicine (inkstamp on the verso of title and one-page manuscript note on the bibliography of this work preceding the title); John Bryant (1881 pencil signature on front flyleaf); acquired from Goodspeed's Book Shop, 1960.
FIRST EDITION of this compilation of the botanical knowedge of the period by one of the very earliest of the French botanists. Ruel was physician to Francis I and is more widely known in the field of botany for his translation of Dioscorides. The first part of this work is devoted to a general treatment of botany and is based largely on Theophrastus's De historia et causas plantarum; the remainder contains approximately 600 plant descriptions taken primarily from classical authorities, arranged in alphabetical order and supplemented with plant names in the vernacular. The book stands out more for its achievement in book design than for its contribution to botanical classification. Mortimer states "it is generally cited as one of the handsomest books of its time." It has been suggested that the title-border might be the work of Oronce Finé.
This copy contains the second state of the title-page and its conjugate A6 as described by Mortimer. Adams R-872; Mortimer French 471 (first state); Hunt 39; Norman 1857; Pritzel 7885; Stillwell Science 693.
2o (382 x 255 mm). Elaborate woodcut title-border, incorporating Colines's device in the lower right-hand corner, numerous criblé initials in several sizes, including large blocks from the Tory alphabet. (Tiny wormhole in extreme lower margin of second half of volume.) 18th-century calf gilt (rebacked). Provenance: Bibliotheque de Sorbonne (inkstamp on title, a1r and on final leaf); Jean-Baptiste Huzard (1755-1838), French agronomist, whose library of over 40,000 books was one of the largest and most complete ever in the fields of natural history, agriculture, rural economy and medicine (inkstamp on the verso of title and one-page manuscript note on the bibliography of this work preceding the title); John Bryant (1881 pencil signature on front flyleaf); acquired from Goodspeed's Book Shop, 1960.
FIRST EDITION of this compilation of the botanical knowedge of the period by one of the very earliest of the French botanists. Ruel was physician to Francis I and is more widely known in the field of botany for his translation of Dioscorides. The first part of this work is devoted to a general treatment of botany and is based largely on Theophrastus's De historia et causas plantarum; the remainder contains approximately 600 plant descriptions taken primarily from classical authorities, arranged in alphabetical order and supplemented with plant names in the vernacular. The book stands out more for its achievement in book design than for its contribution to botanical classification. Mortimer states "it is generally cited as one of the handsomest books of its time." It has been suggested that the title-border might be the work of Oronce Finé.
This copy contains the second state of the title-page and its conjugate A6 as described by Mortimer. Adams R-872; Mortimer French 471 (first state); Hunt 39; Norman 1857; Pritzel 7885; Stillwell Science 693.