Lonitzer, Adam | A hand-colored copy of the popular herbal

Lonitzer, Adam 

Kreuterbuch, Künstliche Conterfeytunge der Bäume, Stauden, Hecken, Kreuter, Getreyde, Gewürtze. Frankfurt: Sigismund Latomus for Vincent Steinmeyer, 1616

Folio (295 x 185 mm). Title printed in red and black, with hand-colored woodcut illustration, hand-colored woodcut illustrations throughout; lacking all after NN1, repaired tear to outer margin of title, a few leaves with short tears, mainly marginal, but a few affecting lines of text (leaves D2, m2, m3, Ddf, T5, and a6), worming, primarily at beginning and end, light dampstaining. Contemporary pigskin over boards; rebacked, covers wormed and a little worn, lacking clasps.

An early "bestseller," Lonitzer's popular work remained from print from the first edition in 1557 through to 1783, making it one of the most commercially successful herbals of its time. Although nominally a “herb book,” Lonicer’s compilation ranges far beyond botany to include extensive sections on animals, minerals, metals, and precious stones, together with practical material on distillation and domestic medicine.

Lonitzer, a professor of mathematics, married into the Egenolph printing family in 1554. The Egenolphs were prominent (and sometimes controversial) producers of German herbals: they had been involved in one of the earliest copyright disputes for pirating Otto Brunfels’s work. Lonitzer followed the same pattern, basing much of his Kreuterbuch on Eucharius Rösslin’s Kreuterbuch of 1533 and Theodor Dorsten’s Botanicon. His extensive reuse of earlier woodcuts enabled the book to be sold at a lower cost and contributed significantly to its wide dissemination.

REFERENCES

Cf. Nissen BBI 1228

PROVENANCE

Monry (Henry?) Rhenoviensis (inscription on title) — Hans Andreas(?) Rusinar (inscription to pastedown) — unknown (inscription to pastedown dated 1627) — Leopold Hugo Paul Klotz (Christies London, 2 November 1994, lot 223)