BRUNFELS, Otto (c. 1489-1534)
10.12.2025 12:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S| Auctioneer | CHRISTIE'S |
|---|---|
| Место проведения | Великобритания, London |
| Комиссия | see on Website% |
ID 1514384
Лот 140 | BRUNFELS, Otto (c. 1489-1534)
Оценочная стоимость
15000GBP £ 15 000 – 20 000
Herbarum vivae eiconeb [sic] ad naturae imitationem... – Novi Herbarii tomus II. – Tomus herbaria III. Strasbourg: 1530-1532-1536.
From the library of Andreas Caesalpinus (1524/1525-1603), physician to Pope Clement VIII: first edition of the first botanical book to contain realistic and accurate illustrations taken directly from nature. We are unable to trace any complete set of all three volumes in their first editions at auction (RBH).
Referred to as 'the first great mind in modern botany' (Hunt), Brunfels’ most revolutionary contribution was his choice of artist to accurately portray these ‘living portraits of plants’ The magnificent woodcuts executed by Weiditz were taken from watercolours drawn directly from nature and delineate botanical details well beyond their known function in the taxonomic literature of the time. The appendix at the end of the second volume contains the first published writings of both Jerome Bock and Leonhardt Fuchs. The third volume was published posthumously, and was illustrated after different artists.
Brunfels converted to Protestantism in 1521, becoming a minister at Steinau an der Straße and later at Neuenburg am Rhein. After that he served for eight years as the head of a Carmelite school in Strasbourg. In the list of most important heretics published by the order of the Emperor by the University of Leuven (1550), Brunfels was first, and his publications – although considered to be amongst the best contemporary botanical references available – were placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. This explains why volumes II and III of the current set, which were owned by Andreas Caesalpinus (1524/1525-1603), first physician to Pope Clement VIII, have a manuscript inscription from the pontifical household licensing Caesalpinus to possess these volumes, albeit suitably expurgated (‘deletis delendis’). Consequently, vols II and III contain ink deletion and partial erasure of all mention of Brunfels’ name on the titles and at the head of A2r in vol. III (see the second edition of vols I-II similarly censored sold at Christie’s New York, 5-19 October 2023, lot 15, $6,930).
At the beginning of the 17th century, these two volumes were united with volume I to complete the set in the library of the Accademia dei Lincei. Considered to be the world’s earliest scientific society, it was founded in 1603 by Federico Cesi (1585-1630), the marchese di Monticelli, who had a particular passion for botany. The society’s stamps, bearing their symbol of the lynx, appear on all three titles, as do the armorial stamps of the Albani family, of Urbino (probably Alessandro Albani, 1692-1779, cardinal from 1721). Adams B-2923, B-2924 and B-2925; Garrison-Morton 1803; Grolier/Horblit 33a; Nissen BBI 257 Ia, IIa and III; Stafleu-Cowan TL2 852, 853 and 854; Pritzel 1283; Norman 361 (‘a new era in botanical iconography’).
Three volumes, folio (295 x 190mm). Title of vol. I printed in red and black within woodcut allegorical border, woodcut arms of Strasbourg printed in red and black on A4v in vol. I, several pages with 4- and 5-part woodcut borders, head- and tailpieces, historiated initials, 239 fine woodcut illustrations of plants mostly by Hans Weiditz, many of which full-page, vol. II with allegorical woodcut on S3r and woodcut printers device at end (vol. I: lacking blanks b4 and G6, some light variable spotting and browning, gathering o and some leaves in gatherings t and x lightly stained and more heavily browned, staining becoming more pronounced in gathering y through to end; vol. II: lacking blanks H4 and S6; vol. III: leaf I4 trimmed close just touching caption on verso). 19th-century vellum, yapp edges (covers just a fraction warped and soiled, small ink stain to lower cover of vol. II). Provenance: Andreas Caesalpinus (1524/1525-1603; autograph ownership inscription in the lower margin of the titlepage of vol. II, together with the requisite licence to possess vols II and III from the pontifical household in another hand; with contemporaneous ink deletions and partial erasures of all mention of Brunfels’ name on the titles of vols II and III, as well as at the head of A2r in vol. III.) – Accademia dei Lincei (stamps on titles bearing the lynx and the inscription ‘EX BIBLIOTH[ECA] LYNCAEA FEDERICI CAESII L[YNCEORUM] P[RINCIPIS] MARCH[IONIS] MONT[IS] CAELII’) – old ink shelfmarks on blank flyleaves – Bibliotheca Albana (ink armorial stamp of the Albani family of Urbino, at foot of title-pages with letters BA; probably Alessandro Albani, 1692-1779) – vol. I with erased inscription in blank margin at head of title and erased stamp in lower margin of a1 together with some occasional light ink annotations, underlining and marginalia in an early hand, including correcting the title in vol. I to read ‘eicones’ and manicules in the margins of A2v, b1v and g3r –– Royal Society of Medicine (stamps on titles, a few following leaves and on final leaves in margins).
| Место происхождения: | Западная Европа, Франция, Европа |
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| Категория аукционного дома: | Медицина и наука, Книги и рукописи, Печатные книги |
| Место происхождения: | Западная Европа, Франция, Европа |
|---|---|
| Категория аукционного дома: | Медицина и наука, Книги и рукописи, Печатные книги |
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CHRISTIE'S 8 King Street, St. James's SW1Y 6QT London Великобритания | |
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