FERRARI, Giovanni Battista (1584-1655). Hesperides sive de malorum aureorum cultura et usu. Libri quatuor. Rome: Hermann Scheus, 1646. 2° (366 x 242 mm). Engraved additional title by J.F. Greuter after Pietro da Cortona, 101 engraved plates on 100 sheets by Cornelis Bloemaerts and others. (Light browning, occasional spotting and soiling, clean tear to G1, repairs to additional engraved title and 2Q3.) 18th-century half vellum, title label on spine, red edges (some rubbing).

FERRARI, Giovanni Battista (1584-1655). Hesperides sive de malorum aureorum cultura et usu. Libri quatuor. Rome: Hermann Scheus, 1646. 2° (366 x 242 mm). Engraved additional title by J.F. Greuter after Pietro da Cortona, 101 engraved plates on 100 sheets by Cornelis Bloemaerts and others. (Light browning, occasional spotting and soiling, clean tear to G1, repairs to additional engraved title and 2Q3.) 18th-century half vellum, title label on spine, red edges (some rubbing).

FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST BOOK DEVOTED TO CITRUS FRUIT, and one of the most attractive of all baroque botanical works. The plates of the fruit were drawn and engraved by Cornelis Bloemaert, 'one of the great Dutch 17th-century botanical artists' (Hunt). Each plate displays a life-size fruit, with foliage, in full and in section, and with titles on decorative scrolls. Cleveland Collections 206; An Oak Spring Pomona, 67; Hunt 243; Nissen BBI 621; Pritzel 2878.