Herbarum, arborum, fruticum, frumentorum ac leguminum
Herbarum, arborum, fruticum, frumentorum ac leguminum was published in Frankfurt, Germany by Christian Egenolff, a prolific printer of books, in 1562.
Although classed as a herbal, the book does not contain any descriptions of the plants it portrays. Neither are there any details of the plants' "virtues", or their sometimes wierd and wonderful medicinal uses. Instead, Egenolff's book is more of a pictographic guide to plants. The book also has multilingual indices, featuring French, German, Italian and Spanish plant names alongside Latin and Greek, ensuring the book's widest possible appeal.
The images in the book are all hand-coloured woodcuts, although the colours aren't always accurate. Egenolff was notorious for copying his images from other sources, but defended the practice by saying that plants, and indeed nature, couldn't be subject to the restrictions of copyright.
Bound in at the end of the book is a copy of Animantium terrestrium, also published in 1562, and featuring a panoply of beasts of the land, sea and sky, both real and mythical.
Although classed as a herbal, the book does not contain any descriptions of the plants it portrays. Neither are there any details of the plants' "virtues", or their sometimes wierd and wonderful medicinal uses. Instead, Egenolff's book is more of a pictographic guide to plants. The book also has multilingual indices, featuring French, German, Italian and Spanish plant names alongside Latin and Greek, ensuring the book's widest possible appeal.
The images in the book are all hand-coloured woodcuts, although the colours aren't always accurate. Egenolff was notorious for copying his images from other sources, but defended the practice by saying that plants, and indeed nature, couldn't be subject to the restrictions of copyright.
Bound in at the end of the book is a copy of Animantium terrestrium, also published in 1562, and featuring a panoply of beasts of the land, sea and sky, both real and mythical.