Orchidee: Scarpetta di Venere - 1597

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Volker Riepenhausen
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Selected by Volker Riepenhausen

Specialist in travel literature and pre-1600 rare prints with 28 years experience.

Estimate  € 200 - € 250
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€2
IT
€1

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A single sheet featuring two varieties of Venus’s slippers (Calceolus Mariae) on one side and a woodcut of Saponaria officinalis on the opposite side, from Gerard’s The Herball or generall Historie of Plantes, first edition 1597, in good condition, measuring 34.2 cm by 21.5 cm.

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Description from the seller

We offer a sheet with two varieties of Venus's Shoes, orchids among the most beautiful and rare, paired on the opposite side with the woodcut of Saponaria officinalis. Overall, there are 3 woodcuts all drawn for The Herball or generall Historie of Plantes by John Gerard in its first edition of 1597.

Gerard was the most prestigious plant scholar in English circles, together with William Turner (c. 1508–1568) and John Parkinson (1567–1650); keen observer, gardener and enthusiastic collector, skilled and brilliant in writing, John Gerard was in fact a barber-surgeon, but he will go down in history as a botanist by virtue of this work.

The sheet is in excellent condition with a slight marginal browning. Beside the Latin name of the orchids and of the Saponaria there is the English one; indeed, since nomenclature was still far off, these are not scientific names, but common Latin ones with the English translation.

The Venus’s Shoes - Calceolus Mariae on the left and Calceolus Mariae alter on the right - is among the most well-known and recognizable orchids thanks to the striking flower. Its habitat extends in the mountains of Europe from the Pyrenees, to the Alps, to the Carpathians, from Scotland to Eastern Europe; it is, however, today protected everywhere due to its vulnerability.

Saponaria is a plant whose detergent and medicinal properties were well known, hence the name.

All three woodcuts feature a delicate, antique coloration.

Accurate and swift shipping.

We offer a sheet with two varieties of Venus's Shoes, orchids among the most beautiful and rare, paired on the opposite side with the woodcut of Saponaria officinalis. Overall, there are 3 woodcuts all drawn for The Herball or generall Historie of Plantes by John Gerard in its first edition of 1597.

Gerard was the most prestigious plant scholar in English circles, together with William Turner (c. 1508–1568) and John Parkinson (1567–1650); keen observer, gardener and enthusiastic collector, skilled and brilliant in writing, John Gerard was in fact a barber-surgeon, but he will go down in history as a botanist by virtue of this work.

The sheet is in excellent condition with a slight marginal browning. Beside the Latin name of the orchids and of the Saponaria there is the English one; indeed, since nomenclature was still far off, these are not scientific names, but common Latin ones with the English translation.

The Venus’s Shoes - Calceolus Mariae on the left and Calceolus Mariae alter on the right - is among the most well-known and recognizable orchids thanks to the striking flower. Its habitat extends in the mountains of Europe from the Pyrenees, to the Alps, to the Carpathians, from Scotland to Eastern Europe; it is, however, today protected everywhere due to its vulnerability.

Saponaria is a plant whose detergent and medicinal properties were well known, hence the name.

All three woodcuts feature a delicate, antique coloration.

Accurate and swift shipping.

Details

Number of books
2
Book title
Orchidee: Scarpetta di Venere
Condition
Good
Publication year oldest item
1597
Height
34.2 cm
Width
21.5 cm
ItalyVerified
231
Objects sold
100%
Private

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