Published : Germany, circa 1552

Author: Hieronymus Bock

Size : 11 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches

Colouring : Original Woodcut - handcolored

Description:

Almost 500 years old and amazing in detail. This woodcut was handcolored and shows a beautiful Unicorn under a Date Palm with a description in German. It is double sided page (page 574) of Hieronymus Bock's Kreutterbuch

Please ask us for other prints. We have many more originals of Hieronymus Bock's Kreutterbuch and many others, but we simply can`t list them all here.

Hieronymus Bock was born in Heidelsheim or Heidersbach, Germany in 1498. His parents intended for him to become a monk, however he became a schoolmaster instead. He later managed the gardens for Count Palatine Ludwig in Zweibrucken from 1523 to 1533. He lost his job when Ludwig died; Ludwig’s Catholic successor did not want a Lutheran working for him. Bock became a Lutheran pastor at Hornbach until his death in 1554. He also was a physician. He was asked by Brunfels to write a botany book in German.

Hieronymus Bock's greatest work, first published in Strassburg in 1539 as the New Kreuter Buch, is recognized for its dual importance for the study of botany and as a source of folklore and dialect of the German language as it was written and spoken in the 16th century. The first edition is without illustrations as Bock could not afford them. To compensate for the lack of visual representation of the plants, Bock described each specimen very clearly in the vernacular German spoken by the people. Subsequent editions of the Kreuter Buch were illustrated, the Latin edition of 1552 containing the greatest number. This edition includes illustrations from earlier editions, images based on woodcuts from works by Otto Brunfels and Leonhart Fuchs, and others drawn and engraved by David Kandel expressly for this edition.

Condition: It is in good antique condition with nice color and light tanning giving it a vintage look.

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