Brunfels, Otto

2 volumes bound in one, volume 1 second edition, volume 2 first edition, folio (322 x 200mm.), titles of both works with woodcut borders, full-page coat of arms, 4 woodcut ornamental borders, numerous woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, printer’s device at end, and 135 woodcuts of plants by Hans Weiditz, mostly full-page, all the plant woodcuts, titles, borders and initials etc. in FINE CONTEMPORARY HAND COLOURING, contemporary calf stamped in blind, edges gilt and gauffered, f3 supplied from another copy, title and very few other leaves with expertly repaired tears, early leaves with minor marginal worming at foot, occasional minor marginal dampstaining, binding restored

 Adams B2924; Hunt 30; Nissen BBI 257 Ib and IIa; Stafleu TL2 852 and 853

THE FIRST MODERN HERBAL, IN EXCEPTIONAL CONTEMPORARY COLOURING.

"Brunfels was the first great mind in modern botany, and, as Sachs says, a new epoch of natural science began with Brunfels, Bock, and Fuchs. They broke away from the tradition of the old herbals which, except for the Gart der Gesundheit of 1485, had never represented any original thinking. Brunfels demanded that his plants be drawn from life and, through Weiditz' skill, opened up new horizons for future scientists; his appreciation of Weiditz' work is glowingly expressed in a poem at the beginning of the book, and thus for the first time the illustrator of a botanical book achieved recognition" (Hunt).

"A whole world separates these vigorous, well-observed drawings from even the best figures in the German Herbarius of 1485. We are at once reminded of Dürer; and much of Wieditz's work has in fact been falsely attributed at one time or another to that great master, or to Burgkmaier" (Blunt).

Hans Weiditz (born before 1500, died c.1536) was a colleague in Hans Burgkmaier's studio, where he worked as a draughtsman for book illustrations. In 1529 he produced the drawings for the woodcuts of Brunfels's herbal, the first volume of which appeared in 1530 (the third volume, published posthumously in 1536, is illustrated by artists other than Weiditz). His original drawings were lost until 1930, when seventy-seven of them were rediscovered in the Felix Platter Herbarium in Bern.

The colouring in this copy is far superior to that found in many other sixteenth-century herbals. The colouring is mostly in bodycolours, with emphasis placed on shading, highlights on leaves and stems, and bright and accurately coloured flowers. It is likely that Weiditz himself coloured a very few copies for distinguished patrons, and, bearing in mind the beautiful colours of the present example, it is pleasing to speculate that this is one of them.

The second volume contains an appendix of extracts and articles by twelve authors including Dioscorides, Manilo, Barbarus, Bock, Fuchs and others. Fuchs's treatise comprises 34 chapters dealing with some 30 plants, and represents his first botanical publication.