Book For Sale - Yours today for $5050

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Frankfurt, Matthias Merian, (1631), (with:) Apparatus Plantarum primus:
tributus in duos libros. I. De plantis bulbosis. II. De plantis tuberosis.
Frankfurt, Matthias Merian, (1632). 2 vols in one. 4to (205 x 155mm). pp.
196, with engraved title and 29 full-page engraved plates (with blank
conjugate to plate 21), 6 of which are printed in the text; 168, with
engraved title and 36 engraved plates in text; small tear to preface of
'Apparatus' touching woodcut ornament and a few letters on verso, a very
nice copy in contemporary vellum, spine a bit discoloured. First edition of
one of the best of the early 17th-century gardening manuals, scientific in
its detail and approach. It is known to have influenced John Evelyn who
quotes it in his unpublished 'Elysium Britannicum'. Morton describes the
work as 'typical of the experience and ideas that began to flow into botany
from horticulture' and goes on to recount how Lauremberg rejected the idea
of the 'plant soul' having a specific location, because 'horticulturalists
knew that plants could live and reproduce themselves from very small pieces
cut from the roots (i.e. rhizomes, stolons, etc.) as well as from branches,
stems, seeds, and even leaves (as in the case of the Indian fig). Therefore
the soul or vital force (vigor vitalis) is not in one part more than
another, but diffused through the whole plant body. Lauremberg describes his
own experiment, lasting three years, in which two hundred vine cuttings were
grown in close association with two varieties of cabbage in order to test an
ancient belief, mentioned by Pliny, that vine and cabbage adversely affect
each other. He found, however, that both species flourished and there was no
evidence of mutual inhibition. In other experiments he found, contrary to
tradition, that rue and fig did not benefit from interplanting. There were
many gardener's notions about how seeds were best oriented when sown; the
wrong way was said to give dwarf or unthrifty plants. Again, Lauremberg made
his own observations with seeds of pea, cucurbita, walnut, almond, date and
others, finding that the stem grew upwards and the root downwards
irrespective of the original orientation, and that the alleged effects of
malplacement were "empty superstition"' (Morton, History of botanical
science p. 222-3). The work covers a variety of topics, including the layout
of the orchard and flower and herb gardens, topiary, labyrinths, sundials,
etc. Five plates illustrate gardening tools, 18 are of designs for parterres
and labyrinths, and two are for topiary. The second title, 'Apparatus
plantarum', the sequel to the 'Horticultura', is devoted to bulbous and
tuberous plants, including the most popular garden flowers of the time. It
'deals not only with their medicinal and culinary uses, but their care and
propagation, places in literature, etc.' (Johnston). Provenance: inscription
on verso of last text leaf of Apparatus: 'IASVSH. Anno 1650'; inscription on
title 'Ordinis Crucigerorum cum Zubea Stella Pragae 1671'. Hunt 219 and 221;
Johnston 181 and 183; Nissen BBI 1147 and 1146; Wellcome 3681 and 3682.
Bookseller Inventory #2825

http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=75702176

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