Fuchs, Leonhart. De historia stirpium commentarii... Lot 20

Fuchs, Leonhart. De historia stirpium commentarii insignes. Basel, Michael Isengrin, 1542. In 2nd (334 x 230 mm);[28], 896, [4] pages. Typographic mark on title page and colophon,509 full-page woodcut figures and 3 smaller figures in the text, some of them with delicate coloring, engraved by Veit Rudolph Speckle from designs by Heinrich Füllmauer and Albert Meyer, portrait of Fuchs on verso of title page and portraits of the 3 artists on fff5r paper (restoration to title page and colophon with blank paper suppl., small restoration to F6 paper, short copy at head, a few figures slightly trimmed, penultimate paper bound backwards, other small defects.) Signature modern binding by Lobstein-Laurenchet in green morocco with gilt title to spine, gilt edges. First edition of "perhaps the most celebrated and most beautiful herbal ever published" (PMM 69).More than 100 of the plants depicted in the book were described for the first time in a specific treatise.Certainly it was for the time the initiator of a new standard of quality and accuracy, as well as the first publication to include distinctly American plants such as squash,maize,marigolds,potatoetabacco. Hunt 48: Fuchs was "the first of the modern era to attempt to give a botanical glossary of terms, presenting it in an alphabetical order." SALEROOM NOTICE: Penultime leaf facsimile in facsimile.