FUCHS, Leonhard.

First German edition, corrected and enlarged, of this most celebrated and beautiful herbal, ‘the first botanical textbook – as we would now recognise it – [in] existence’ (Ford, Images of Science). Five additional woodcuts were inserted, depicting ‘Hunerbis’, ‘Spitziger Wegerich’, ‘klein Schlangen kraut’, ‘Knabenkrautweible’ and ‘Kuchens chell’. Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566) was an eminent physician and botanist of the early German Reformation. After completing his medical studies in Ingolstadt and teaching in that university, he moved to Tübingen. There, he served Duke Ulrich of Württemberg and contributed massively to the reform of the local university, which became the first German institution of its kind to adopt a humanist and Lutheran programme. A plant and the colour fuchsia are named after him.

Fuchs wrote many medical commentaries and treatises, though this herbal was by far his major achievement. Readers were provided with an index of illnesses treatable with herbs, so as to facilitate consultation, with accurate botanical descriptions marking a significant advancement in medical botany over earlier herbals. The woodcuts are of extraordinary beauty. This work describes over 400 German and 100 foreign plants – each with its own detailed illustration – and includes the first description of several recently-discovered American plants, such as the pumpkin, chili pepper, snap bean and maize (mistakenly considered as a Turkish product). It was highly influential, with many reprints and translations, its woodcuts copied in the works of Rembert, Dodoens and William Turner, amongst others.

The drawings were made from life by Albert Meyer, largely relying on the plants carefully gathered by Fuchs in his garden in Tübingen, and made under Fuchs’ direct control, insisting that special attention be paid to accurate outlines and botanical detail whilst shadows and shading were anticipated. Heinrich Füllmaurer transferred the illustrations onto woodblocks, which were later cut by Viet Rudolph Speckle. The three artists received the then unique honour that their names and portraits were included in the book.

The handsome binding employed rolls by an engraver A.L. not listed in EBDB, and it is probably Swiss, as it was produced after the copy was purchased by Ezechiel Falckeise (1557-1634), student at Basel and then pastor in Switzerland. Several letters from him to major contemporary theologians and botanists are recorded at UBasel – especially the Reformed professor Johannes Jakob Grynaeus and the botanist Caspar Bauhin. In a letter to Grynaeus, he mentions that Grynaeus’ ‘socerus’ (father-in-law) is sending him some butter, suggesting a close acquaintance; Falckeise also sent several letters to Grynaeus from France and Flanders, where he met major humanists such as Aernout van Buchel.

‘Perhaps the most beautiful herbal ever produced’ (Becker, p.59, 1542 ed.).