Abraham Munting | Naauwkeurige Beschryving der Aardgewassen, 1696, fine botanical engravings

Abraham Munting

Naauwkeurige Beschryving der Aardgewassen, waar in de veelerley Aart en byzondere Eigenschappen der Boomen, Heesters, Kruyden, Bloemen... Leiden and Utrecht: Pieter van der Aa and Francois Halma, 1696

FIRST EDITION, folio (390 x 255mm.), half-title, engraved additional title, 243 finely-engraved botanical plates, engraved head- tail-pieces, near contemporary calf, some slight soiling to some of the rear index pages, rebacked retaining most of original spine

“Munting wrote a number of works on medical-botanical topics, but his posthumously published opus magnum, the Naauwkeurige, enjoyed particular success, at least in part due to the novelty of the plates, which in a radical departure from the iconography of the traditional florilegium, presented its plant species against a charming series of landscape backgrounds. The illustrations are remarkable for their elegance and originality. The sophisticated title-page was designed by an artist of considerable merit, Jan Goeree (1670-1731), who had been a student of Gérard de Laresse. Each plate shows a different plant in flower, including many exotic species from America and other distant lands. The plant dominates the foreground, filling the entire page, often with a detail of the fruit or flower presented on a smaller scale. In some cases the plants are presented à trompe l'oeil, while in others they have been arranged in decorated urns. Sometimes gardening tools are depicted as well. The name of each plant appears written on an elegantly fluttering ribbon or cartouche, or on a crumbling marble plaque" (Tomasi, An Oak Spring Flora)

PROVENANCE: Tysoe Manor, bookplate

LITERATURE: Hunt 396; Nissen BBI 1428; An Oak Spring Flora 45