Ravelingen, 1618. Fort in-folio, (8of which the second blank - Lot 216

Ravelingen, 1618. Fort in-folio, (8of which the second blank)-(24)-1495-(one blank)-(58of which the last 2d blank)pp., false-title reading Herbarius oft Cruydt-Boeck, body of text printed in two columns and mainly in Gothic type; vellum, ribbed spine, cold decoration adorning the boards including a simple fillet d′encadrement with an interlaced medallion in the center; blank leafD3 of the polyglot index cut out by the publisher; binding a little rubbed, a few leaves with wetness (period binding). Partly original edition. The Flemish physician and botanist Rembert Dodoens (1517-1585) had published a herbarium in 1552-1554 (Cruijde Boeck), followed by another in 1583, published by Christophe Plantin (Stirpium historiæ pemptades sex), which was more extensive and included many of the plants discovered since 1554. After Dodoens' death, the present Herbarius oft Cruydt-Boeck appeared in 1608, an amended and expanded version of the 1583 work in Dutch translation. This edition was most probably compiled by the physician Joost van Ravelingen, son of Christophe Plantin's son-in-law and successor, Frans van Ravelingen, based on a copy of the Stirpium historiæ pemptades sex of 1583, annotated by Dodoens and bequeathed by him to Christophe Plantin. Joost van Ravelingen also added a supplement on gums and liqueurs derived from Indian and more generally Oriental plants (pp.1363-1495), largely taken from a treatise by Charles de L'Écluse originally published in 1557 as an appendix to the French translation of Dodoens' Cruijde Boeck. In addition, polyglot tables were included in Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Latin, Greek and, where applicable, Arabic and Indian. The present work, published in 1618, is therefore a Dutch translation of the Stirpium historiæ pemptades sex, with amendments and new additions to both the Dodoens text and the supplement, and with an updated index. Large copper-engraved title frame by Willem Isaakszoon Swanenburg (taken from the 1608 edition): architectural portico opening onto a garden, with plant decoration and portraits of Dodoens and L'Écluse. Approx. 1,380 botanical woodcuts in the text, some of which have already been used to illustrate the work by Leonhart Fuchs.