Ludwig, Christian Gottlieb

Ectypa vegetabilium usibus medicis. Halle: Johann Gottfried Trampe for Johann Christoph Breitkopf in Leipzig, 1760 [-1764]



Folio (14 7/8 x 9 in.; 380 x 228 mm). 200 hand-colored, nature-printed plates (1 folding) bound within the text, with letterpress legends in Latin and German with French added in contemporary calligraphy in red ink, each with tissue guards, roman and gothic types, woodcut head-piece and decorative initials, plate 105 corrected from IV to CV by stamp and the words rotunda and runde corrected to longa and lange by overslips as issued, extra-illustrated with a live plant Coralline mounted at the end; title soiled, an occasional marginal spot, lower margin of plate 24 renewed, plates 32-33 bound after 34, text leaves lightly browned. Contemporary mottled calf with triple fillet border, spine gilt, edges gilt; joints cracked, corners and edges torn, head and foot of spine chipped, covers scraped.

New York Hospital (oval stamp in upper margin of title)

Cave & Wakeman 10; Dunthorne 188; Fischer 8; Hunt/Stevenson 569; Nissen, BBI 1252; Stafleu & Cowan III, 5068

title soiled an occasional marginal spot, lower margin of plate 24 renewed, plates 32-33 bound after 34, text leaves lightly browned. Contemporary mottled calf with triple fillet border, spine gilt, edges gilt; joints cracked, corners and edges torn, head and foot of spine chipped, covers scraped.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Only edition, the complete series of two hundred nature-printed plates. Ludwig's Ectypa and the final edition of Kniphof's Botanica in originali (1757-1767) were jointly "the eighteenth century's most valiant efforts at nature-printing" (Hunt/Stevenson); both were produced in the same shop, that of Trampe in Halle. As Kniphof's book was issued in black and white and the Ludwig only in color, the latter may be seen as the major colored nature-printed book of the eighteenth century.

Published over four years in eight parts with a series of 25 plates in each, the plant took the place of the woodblock or engraved plate in the process of reproduction. With the specimens arranged and covered with a dark dust, the outlines formed on the paper were then colored either by hand or a combined color-printing and hand-coloring process. The specimens were delicate and could sustain only the smallest of print runs.