Besler – Narcissus Polyanthos Orientalis calice medio luteus 1613

 
Stock AA1532A

Narcissus Polyanthos Orientalis calice medio luteus

Copper engraving. Issue with the text on verso, handcoloured very skilfully at a later date. Plate 14 published in the Hortus Eystettensis. Without doubt one of the greatest flower books ever produced in any country. The work commemorates the celebrated gardens of Johann Konrad von Gemmingen, Prince Bishop of Eichstätt. The book is the earliest pictorial record of flowers in a single garden. The original drawings took sixteen years to complete. Ten artists and engravers were involved, the most important being Wolfgang Kilian of Augsburg. The author, Basilius Besler (1561-1629), was a Nuremberg apothecary and botanist. The book was completed in Autumn 1613. The copper plates survived until 1817.

First edition 1613

89 cm x 75 cm