Hortus Eystettensis A

Hortus Eystettensis
The richest botanical garden in Europe
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Basilius Besler, apothecary and botanist
Basilius Besler (1561-1629), was a reputable apothecary and botanist from Nuremberg in Germany.
In 1596 he was appointed curator of the garden of Johann Konrad von Gemmingen, prince bishop of
Eichstätt in Bavaria, who owned the only important European botanical garden outside Italy. The gardens
surrounded the bishop’s palace, Willibaldsburg, which was built on a hill overlooking the town.
Hortus Eystettensis,
the most extensive botanical treatise
The bishop commissioned Besler to compile a codex of the
plants growing in his garden, a task which Besler took sixteen
years to complete. Besler had the assistance of his brother and
a group of skilled German draughtsmen and engravers. The
work was named Hortus Eystettensis (Garden at Eichstätt).
The emphasis in botanicals of previous centuries had been
on medicinal and culinary herbs, and these had usually
been depicted in a crude manner. The images were often
inadequate for identification, and had little claim to being
aesthetic.
The Hortus Eystettensis changed botanical art overnight.
The plates were of garden flowers, herbs and vegetables,
exotic plants such as castor-oil and arum lilies. These were
depicted in nearly life-size, rich detail. The layout was
artistically pleasing and quite modern in concept, with the
hand-colouring adding greatly to the final effect.
The work was first published in 1613 and consisted of 367
copper engravings, with an average of three plants per page,
so that a total of 1084 species were depicted. The first edition
printed 300 copies, which took four years to sell. The book
was printed on large sheets measuring 57 x 46 cm.
Botanical art organized in seasons
The work generally reflected the four seasons, showing first the flowering and then the fruiting stages. “Winter” was
sparsely represented with a mere 7 plates. “Spring” was a season of abundance with 134 plates illustrating 454 plants
and “Summer” in full swing showed 505 plants on 184 plates. “Autumn” closed off the work with 42 plates and 98 species.
Descriptions of the plants were in Latin and showed remarkable anticipation of the binomial system. Besler’s portrait
appears on the frontispiece holding a sprig of greenery, thought to be basil.
Fine Art Facsimile Edition
Aboca Museum Edizioni produced the fine art facsimile edition of the Hortus Eystettensis faithfully from the 1613 specimen
in Eichstätt (SJ II 2892-2894, Universitätsbibliothek Eichstätt) on 170gr/m2 paper, specially milled for this edition. The effect
of the printing process pressure is faithfully reproduced. It is a three volume opus containing 367 imperial folio plates (43.5 x
52 cm). White leather covers imitate every single detail of the originals. Limited print-run of 1450 copies. The commentary (286
pages, 29 x 38 cm, English, German and Italian languages) contains essays by K. W. Littger, A. Menghini, W. D. Muller Jahncke,
D. Contin, W. Dressendorfer.
A complete reproduction of the three volumes SJ II 2892-2894, Universitätsbibliothek in Eichstätt (Germany)
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Calcography on paper, water-coloured by hand, 367 plates in three volumes, 43.5 x 52 cm (17.13 x 20.47 in)
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Limited edition of 1450 copies, silk boxes, Italian, German and English commentary.
Colophon
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