Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 243

LEONHART FUCHS (1501-1566) De historia stirpium commentarii insignes. In officina Isingriniana 1542 [28] 896 [2] pp., 512 col. plates. 38.1 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 241

Prior to the sixteenth century, very little had been done in the field of medical botany and, although numerous herbals in both manuscript and printed form had been produced, they were poor in text and illustration, primarily derived from classical sources. But in the sixteenth century the same spirit which inspired Vesalius and others in the field of anatomy served also as the inspiration for the study of flora from actual specimens, culminating in what is certainly the most celebrated and probably the most beautiful herbal ever published, that of Leonhart Fuchs. He described 400 German plants as well as 100 foreign ones. The 512 woodcut illustrations are neatly colored by hand in pleasing tones and include a full-page hand-colored woodcut of Fuchs as well as portraits of the three illustrators, one of the first instances of such a tribute being paid to artists in a printed book. This first edition of this lavish herbal is characterized by spacious design and layout, by fine printing, and by the sheer number of illustrations. Its popularity was immediate and it was issued in many subsequent editions and translations, but the first edition was never equaled.

Cited references: Cushing F350; Durling 1675; Garrison-Morton 1808; Wellcome 2438

Gift of John Martin, M.D.