Kreutterbuch : darin Underscheidt Namen unnd Wurckung der Kreutter, Stauden, Hecken und Beumen, sampt jren Fruchten, so inn teutschen Landen wachsen, auch derselbigen eygentlicher und wolgegrundter Gebrauch in der Artzney, fleißig dargeben ; ... und jetzund von newem fleißig ubersehen, gebessert und gemehret . . .

Strassburg:: Josias Rihel, 1572., 1572. Folio. [20], 369, [17] ff. Portrait of Hieronymus Bock, title-vignette, numerous woodcut figures throughout; waterstained, especially on lower part of the book and particularly in the rear, considerable spotting or foxing, both preliminary and posterior leaves with paper-fills or realigning to strengthen each leaf, professionally done. At the beginning and end with some reinforcements and restorations in the margins, leaf 230 torn with text loss (lower portion of leaf, losing 11 lines of text – to greater or lesser degree), 21 leaves in the front and 18 of the final 20 leaves are heavily stained and with considerable (truncated) paper-fills, largely along the outer margins – the top inner corner of a leaf from the Register [SS7], with loss. Odd printer's error where leaf 287 recto is not present but instead is printed as f.288 recto, and in the two consecutive leaves "288" and 288, versos, are correct. Thus f.287 (r) is printed in error as if it were f.288 (r). A few minor ink annotations within the text (see ff. aui, 279v, 280r), the first note of which is dated in ms.: April 5, 1613; underlining [8v, 9r, 18v, 23r, 58r, 85r, 244v], small burn-hole f.119 (touches a few letters), etc.), some worm-trails (see the gutter through the latter half of the book – however these are minor trails). 20th century elaborately stamped calf, raised bands, all to imitate a fine late 16h century binding, clasps have broken away (only one remains saved), by [Ernst] Renggli [Buchbinder], St. Gallen, Switzerland. Rare. AS IS. WITH PORTRAIT AND APPROXIMATELY 500 WOODCUTS OF PLANTS. Fifth edition printed by Josias Rihel of what is among the most famous and advanced herbarium of the 16th century, embellished with beautiful woodcuts by David Kandel (1520-1590), his initials sometimes found within the images (such as the author’s portrait is signed DK). / This famous herbal is decorated with some 500 hundred woodcuts by David Kandel, the printer's mark on the title, and a woodcut portrait of the author (facing A1). Bock was the first botanist to describe plants in a systematic manner that was based uniquely on his own observations. His aim, as stated on the title-page, was revolutionary: to describe the characteristics and effects of the plants of Germany, a very different study from all previous herbals, which had been concerned with identifying the plants of Dioscorides. He carried this out with unprecedented clarity of expression and of thought: / "Brunfels's herbal had not sold well, and it was probably in part Bock's inability to persuade his publisher to pay for illustrations for the first part of his Kreuter Buch... that obliged him to describe in detail... facts that Brunfels and Fuchs mistakenly believed to have been adequately dealt with by their artists" – Blunt and Raphael, p. 129. / "Bock is the second of the Germanic founders Botany . . . His descriptions of flowers were remarkably clear . . . he took into consideration elements that his predecessors had completely ignored. He recognized the corolla, stamens and pistils as essential parts of many flowers and he was probably the first botanist of the 16th century to have understood the need for classification." – Hunt Botanical catalogue. / Many of the artist’s woodcuts are imbued with added points of interest relating to each plant. These woodcuts, with the added features, are clustered to the rear of the volume: 2 cherubs under a tree (one is clearly having a bowel movement, indicating this tree has properties favorable to the person suffering from loose stools [f332]); a Nectarine tree with a well-dressed woman [f333r]; a cherry tree is shown [f337r] with a man climbing the limbs to pick the fruit, a young girl waiting below; the apple tree [342r] shows the Biblical snake and a skull, suggesting death from a poisoned fruit; the pear tree depicted on [f343r] also shows a fox or a dog[?], apparently interested in the bird in the tree who drops enough fruit that the animal can eat; a mulberry tree [f343v] shows a man lying down under the tree – relaxing, a woman standing with her arms raised as if in despair, a lion in the distance, and what appears to be an irrigation system [this woodcut is signed DK]; the fig tree is shown [f344v] with a man who is suffering from both frequent vomiting and diarrhea [figs have diuretic properties]; the date-nut palm tree with its dates are shown [f345r] with a goat looking more like a unicorn; the grape bush is shown [f346r] with a group of men, each with a different character, but one is a-ground with a headache from drinking too much wine; [f350v] shows a fruit tree with a rooster, a frog and a devil (or demon!?); a juniper tree [f352r] shows with 4 birds; willow trees are shown [f353v] with birds nesting in the trunk, a goat suggests its namesake: a goat-willow tree; [f354 shows a poplar tree with a man wearing a fur-skin as a disguise and wielding a wooden club, he apparently targets his attack upon a small animal [beaver? – note the tail] who burrows into the base of the tree trunk which is hollowed for a home; a black alder tree (birch family) . is shown [f356r] showing the tree next to a river with a couple of fish; 2 storks are found atop of an Eichholtz tree with a massive stork next; walnut tree [f358v]; chestnuts trees [f360v] are shown with hedgehogs – there is a description that favors its fruit (nut) looks like a hedgehog; [f361v] shows an oak tree [Eichbaum – or Eychbaum] and wild pigs eating the acorns, which is a way to fatten up a pig before slaughtering; an oak bark beetle is a pest shown with an oak tree [f362v]; a beech tree is shown [f363r] with a sheepherder and his companion who plays from bagpipes [signed dk on the left]; a linden tree is depicted with a four people dancing to the music of another person with a bagpipe, a dog next to him, the woodcut signed DK; a broom is shown as if piercing a birch tree (this alludes to a fungus known as the witches’ broom (Taphrina betulina) known to grow on birch trees, causing dense clusters of short twigs) [f365r]; the thannenbaum [tannenbaum], or fir tree is shown [f366v] with an ideological version of stag deer with antlers (not a moose), this woodcut signed DK; [f368r] shows a splendid tree where a monkey is reaping his food, but below a warren of 4 rabbits live below the tree, signed DK. REFERENCES: Arber, Herbals, 1938, 59 and 221; Heilmann 193; Muller UI, 519,137; Nissen, BBI 182; Stafleu, C. 575; STC 130; Pritzel 866. See: Jourdan, Antoine-Jacques-Louis, Dictionaire [sic] des sciences medicales : biographie medicale, 1820; Ritter, François, Repertoire bibliographique des livres imprimes en Alsace au 16me siècle de la Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, 1934, 219. (Inventory #: TK0104)