hortus gottingensis quem proponit (1 Ergebnisse)

Soft cover. Zustand: Very Good. 1st Edition. First edition, printed for the author: a history of the University of Göttingen's botanical garden by its young new director, 'at the same time a prayer of initiation into the sacred profession'. In his Begegnungen und Gespräche, Goethe fondly remembers the garden and its director: 'I would very often pay a visit to Professor Hoffmann [thanks to whom] I became more intimately acquainted with cryptogams, which had always been impenetrable territory for me' (my translation). Hoffmann (17611826) later became director of the botanical garden in Moscow and the genus Hoffmannia is named after him. This is quite a grand book, fashionably illustrated with aquatint, 'perhaps the most beautiful form of illustration in the history of books' (Colin Franklin). The printing, by Johann Christoph Dieterich of Göttingen, is elegant, the illustrations attractive (they somehow look almost modern, gently recording the quiet of the garden), the colouring neat. It is a book executed with care. To judge from the subtitle, it was also for the young botanist, embarking on the next stage of his career, akin to something spiritual. Stafleu & Cowan II, 2888; Pritzel 4133. WorldCat locates only a handful of copies outside Europe: New York Botanical Garden, Dumbarton Oaks, Minnesota, Harvard, Penn. Folio (375 × 241 mm), pp. [2], 14, [2]; with a finely hand-coloured folding etched plan by Riepenhausen; aquatint title vignette and coloured illustration at the head of p. [1] by Besemann; original printed blue paper over thin boards, slightly sunned, marbled paper backstrip; early nineteenth-century ms. label ('Hoffmann') at head of front cover, one spot at foot, bookplate of the Johannishus library, traces of another label to inside front cover, small ink monogram at foot of title.