ELSHOLTZ, Johann Sigismund Vom Garten-Baw: Oder Unterricht von der Grtnerey auff das Clima der Chur-Marck Brandenburg, wie auch der benachbarten Teutschen Lnder gerichtet... Berlin, Georg Schultze, 1672
4to (222 x 169 mm), pp [xvi], with folding engraved frontispiece, eight engraved plates and five woodcuts in text; traces of old stamp on title, a fine copy in contemporary yapped vellum. £3250 Second edition, enlarged (first 1666) of this rare and important early German gardening book by Elsholtz (1623-88), court physician and botanist to the Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg at Berlin and director of the ElectorÕs botanical garden. Based upon the authorÕs experiences supervising the ElectorÕs gardens, it presents the latest findings and techniques in horticulture, speficially tailored to the German climate. It is an important document of the study of German baroque princely flower gardens in general and the ElectorÕs gardens in particular, which were designed for the latter by Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen. The first part deals with gardening in general, and encompasses layout, buildings such as stove- and glasshouses, tools, and other necessary adjuncts. The second part is on the flower garden, and includes the layout of parterres, a list of flowering plants appropriate to the seasons, forcing techniques, ornamental urns and vases, etc. One of the plates to this section illustrates vases and pierced containers for flower arranging in the shape of columns, obelisks, etc. including a vase made in the spring of 1658 with the initials F.W. (for Friedrich Wilhelm) picked out in blue irises and white tulips (acknowledgements to Sonia Ewert for pointing out the latter). The third section is on the kitchen garden. The fourth covers the tree and shrub garden. The fifth part is on vines and the vineyard, and includes a plate depicting the ElectorÕs terraced vineyard. The final part covers the physic garden, comprising medicinal plants, with a section on ÔwildÕ plants. There is also a chapter on garden monuments. There are extensive lists of plants (including 220 varieties of tulips, and 750 kinds of pears from a list published in Paris in 1667). The plates illustrate gardening tools, glass frames, propagating and grafting techniques, vases and pots, etc. The frontispiece is a birdÕs-eye view of the ElectorÕs palace and garden, above which the Elector and consort appear as Apollo and Diana driving a chariot. Pritzel 2632; NUC (Supplement): NIC; OCLC adds New York Botanical Garden (no copy of the 1666 edition is listed in NUC; OCLC records only Dumbarton Oaks)
£3250
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