June 2021 Catalogue

N a t u r a l H i s t o r y 3 Dodoens’ New Herbal , 1619 1. DODOENS, Rembert. A New Herbal, or Historie of Plants. London, 1619. Small folio, contemporary full calf gilt rebacked with original spine laid down. $2900. Click for more info Revised fourth edition in English of Dodoens’ Cruydeboeck, with ornate woodcut border on title page and numerous woodcut headpieces and initials. Dodoens was the first of the great Flemish botanists, “and both in his Cruydeboeck , 1554, and his Stirpium Historia Pemptades Sex , 1583… he helped to forward the growing interest in classification which had begun to be evident as early as 1539 in Bock’s Neu Kreuterbuch ” (Hunt 67). The Cruydeboeck , his first botanical work, “was a national herbarium devoted to species indigenous to the Flemish provinces. The merit of this book was that rather than proceeding by alphabetical order, as Fuchs had done, Dodoens grouped the plants according to their properties and their reciprocal affinities” (DSB). Henry Lyte’s English translation (made from the 1557 French version by Charles de l’Ecluse) was first published in 1578. Lower corner of title page torn, just affecting border rule, a few leaves with some expert paper repair, some occasional soiling and dampstaining, a few marginal wormholes throughout. A very good copy in contemporary calf. Scarce. Natural History