THURNEISSER ZUM THURN, Leonhard (1530?-1596)

Historia sive descriptio plantarum omnium , tam domesticarum quam exoticarum: earundem cum virtutes, influentiales, elementares, & naturales, tum subtilitates, necnon icones etiam verae, ad vivum artificiose expressas proponens

Berlin: (colophon: excudebat Michael Hentzske), 1578.
Folio: )(6 A--O6 P4, 94 leaves, pp. [12] CLVI [20]. Italic letter with Roman headings. Title within a fine woodcut border, portrait of the author in elaborate strapwork border, a further woodcut portrait of God but with the features of Thurneisser within same border, elaborate woodcut device with Thurneisser's arms on colophon leaf, 36 woodcuts of plants set within elaborate borders, numerous smaller woodcuts of anatomical figures, stills, furnaces, and other alchemical apparatus, and numerous woodcut horoscope diagrams in text. [bound with:] JONCQUET, Denis (d. 1671). *Hortus Regius*. Pars prior. Paris: Apud Dionysium Langlois in Monte D. Hilarii, sub Pelicano, 1665. Folio, [pi]2 [a]2 e2 *--2*2 A--3C2, 108 leaves, pp. [20] 188 [i.e. 192, 67/68 and 165/166 repeated] [4]. Engraved title on [pi]2r signed C. le Brun In. G. Rousselet scul. 1664', woodcut headpieces and initials. References: Adams A690; Hunt 298. Bibliography: First and only edition, all published. Leaf size and condition: 359 x 230 mm. Outer margin of title just shaved; old repair to inner blank margin of colophon leaf; a few leaves lightly browned; a few tears in the lower margins of the second work. Binding: Seventeenth-century calf, gilt spine with red title labels. Joints neatly repaired at head and tail. Provenance and annotation: 1. Guy de la Brosse (1586--1643), with signature on title of the Thurneisser (cropped), Howard: Catalogue de la Bibliotheque de Guy de la Brosse (Geneva 1983), no. 116. 2. inscription 'p. Bonnet M. Reginae ord. 1682 165' on front pastedown and annotations in the same hand on *2r, 2*1r, and pp. 9, 57 and 87. 3. Antoine de Jussieu (1686--1758), with extensive annotations to the Jonquet: Catalogue de la Bibliotheque scientifique de MM. de Jussieu (Paris 1857), no. 1145. 4. Joseph Decaisne (1802--1882) with his signature on pastedown and a note in his hand on the de Jussieu provenance: Catalogue de la Bibliotheque de feu M. Decaisne (Paris, 1883), no. 381. References: Durling 4353; Nissen BBI 1963; Wellcome 6298.
First Latin edition, a translation of Historia unnd Beschreibung influentischer, elementischer und natürlicher Wirckungen (Berlin, Hentzske, 1578); the German edition was reissued at Berlin in 1578 and the Latin at Cologne in 1587.
§ A splendid composite volume containing two important botanical books which belonged to three directors of the Jardin du Roi (now Jardin des Plantes), the second work being a list of the plants in the garden, heavily annotated by Antoine de Jussieu (1686--1758). The earlier work by Thurneisser, an elaborate astrological herbal, was owned by Guy de la Brosse (1586--1643), founder of the Jardin du Roi under Louis XIII. He designed the layout of the garden and wrote several catalogues of its plants. Thurneisser. A fabulous display of typography and illustration, Thurneisser's pages combine alchemy, astrology, the doctrine of signatures and medical botany. The woodcuts of plants are enclosed within borders which give the Hebrew (occasionally Syriac) and Greek names of the plants. In the corners of the border are the constellations governing the plant, its alchemical complexion, and its virtues. Smaller figures of skeletons or internal organs indicate the parts of the body the plant affects. Other woodcuts of distillation apparatus illustrate the preparation of medicinal extracts. Thurneisser 'began life by learning the trade of his father, who was a goldsmith, but he also picked up some knowledge of botany, medicine, and, possibly, anatomy under Vesalius. In 1548 he left Basel, and went to England, France, and Germany, where he became a soldier. Afterwards he worked as a metallurgist, and again as a goldsmith... From 1560 to 1570 he was in the service of the Archduke Ferdinand, and travelled far and near, from the Orkney islands down to Africa, and to the East, everywhere learning medicine and metallurgy... From 1570 to 1584 he was physician to John Georg, Churfürst of Brandenburg, and had a laboratory and printing press in the so-called "Grey monastery" at Berlin. By various means he amassed a large fortune, and at one time employed between two and three hundred people. He collected a library, a museum, and a herbarium, kept a menagerie, and encouraged the fine and practical arts, such as the manufacture of saltpetre, alum, glass, paper, and also coloured glass... In 1584 he finally left Berlin, went to Italy, where he tried to practice medicine and alchemy; he was at Rome in 1591, and died in a monastery at Cologne 9 July, 1596, and was buried beside Albertus Magnus, according to his own request' (Ferguson, Bibliotheca chemica II, p. 453). The outstanding woodcut title is signed 'P F H' and is by Peter Hille, who was also responsible for the portraits and probably the coat-of-arms on the colophon leaf. Hille died in 1574, so the work must have been some time in preparation. Jonquet. The second work is a catalogue of some 4000 plants in the Jardin Royal des Simples (Jardin du Roi). The dedication to the King is by the director of the gardens, Antoine Vallot. Joncquet was professor of botany at the Jardin du Roi, and was assisted in preparing this catalogue by J. Gavois and G. C. Fagon, the latter being the nephew of Guy de la Brosse whose signature is at the foot of the titlepage of this copy. Fagon's contribution is acknowledged in one of de Jussieu's annotations, where he refers to Fagon's description of a plant. The fine engraved title is by Giles Rousselet (1610--1686) after Charles Le Brun (1619--1690). It depicts Louis XIV as Apollo in his chariot above the gardens. Provenance. As noted above, the signature of Guy de la Brosse (1586--1643), founder of what is now the Jardin des Plantes, is at the foot of the titlepage of the Thurneisser. From him the book found its way into the possession of one P. Bonnet, whom I have not identified, but his inscription 'p. Bonnet M. Reginae ord. 1682' presumably means he was a physician to Louis XIV's Queen, Marie-Thérèse, who died in 1683. Since this inscription is written on the pastedown, and the date is consistent with the style of the binding, Bonnet presumably owned the Jonquet and had the two books bound together. There are a few annotations in the Jonquet which seem to be in Bonnet's hand, including corrections to the dedicatory poem; an annotation on p. 87 in the same hand has been carefully preserved by the binder by folding in a section of the margin before trimming the pages. The Jonquet has been more heavily annotated by Antoine de Jussieu (1686--1758). Antoine was the first of the 'botanical dynasty that included his younger brothers Bernard and Joseph and his nephew Antoine-Laurent... His main activities were the development of the Jardin du Roi and the training of pupils' (DSB). The next recorded owner was Joseph Decaisne (1802--1882), a Belgian botanist who began his career as a gardener in the Jardin des Plantes where his horticultural abilities attracted the attention of Adrien de Jussieu. He was appointed director of the garden in 1851.

• GBP 12,000.00 > other currencies
• ordernr.: 10526

• bookseller: Roger Gaskell (GREAT BRITAIN)