TABERNAEMONTANUS, JACOBUS THEODORUS.

Basel, J. Werenfels, 1664. Folio. Engraved title leaf,(14),663,(1 blank,4),665-1529,(1 blank,132) pp. With 2359 woodcuts of plants in the text. Contemporary calf, spine in compartments with raised bands, richly decorated in gilt. Lower joint torn at head, upper joint with 6 cm tear at tail, covers quite heavily scuffed, extremities rubbed and bumped, corners very worn. Engraved title leaf quite heavily browned and frayed, with loss at tail, and further loss at head with slight loss of image, and with hole in left margin with very minor loss of image, preliminary leaves and outer margins of index also quite loose, chipped and browned. Somewhat browned and stained throughout, with sporadic marginal dampstaining, and a few small marginal nicks and tears. With the crowned ownership monogram ”C. T.” for Claes Tott stamped in gilt on both covers, the signature of Sten Bielke in the centre of the engraved title page, old shelfmark in ink and later notes in pencil on front pastedown. From the library of Gunnar Brusewitz.

VD17 39:125471N. Nissen Die botanische Buchillustration 1931. Plesch Mille et un livres botaniques 422. The title is taken from the engraved title page. An augmented and revised edition of Tabernaemontanus’ famous herbal first published in 1588. This edition is the work of Hieronymus Bauhin, grandson of Caspar Bauhin, the editor of the revised and enlarged edition of 1613. It is one of the most extensive herbals and was much used by botanists even up to the early 18th century. Linnaeus owned a copy of this edition. Like the majority of the herbalists, Jacob Theodor von Bergzabern (latinised Tabernaemontanus, ca. 1520-1590) was a medical man. He was closely connected with such people as Otto Brunfels and Hieronymus Bock. His herbal first appeared in 1588 and is a large and finely illustrated work. The figures are for the most part not original, but reproduced from Bock, Fuchs, Dodoen, Mattioli, de l’Ecluse, and de l’Obel. This collection of woodblocks became familiar in England a few years later, when they were acquired by the printer John Norton and used to illustrate Gerard’s ”Herball” (1597). Tabernaemontanus was the last of the botanists of the 16th century who attempted to produce an extensive book on herbs for the purpose of identification of the plants and their medical properties. His work is of major importance because of its systematic approach. The early attempts at classifying the individual plants in families makes Tabernaemontanus a precursor to Linnaeus and one of the fathers of the new botany. Privy council and field marshal Claes Tott (1630-1674) was at a young age a protégée of Queen Christina. A number of times, he was sent to Paris as a Swedish ambassador and during his travels he acquired books for his library. Tott took a keen interest in natural science and was a patron for Urban Hiärne who also served as his personal physician. Hiärne’s extensive study tour of France and England, where he was elected a fellow of Royal Society, was paid for by Tott. Since Tott didn’t have any children of his own, his library was inherited by his uncle Sten Bielke (1624-1684). In the process of the Swedish reduction, the library was confiscated by the state, and many books from the Tott-Bielke collection are now to be found in the Royal Library in Stockholm.