BARKER, Nicolas

BARKER, Nicolas. Hortus Eystettensis: The Bishop’s Garden and Besler’s Magnificent Book

London, Harry N. Abrams, 1994.

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Hortus Eystettensis was first published in 1613 and was the catalogue of the plants in the garden of the Prince-Bishop of Eichstatt, Germany. It contained 367 plates illustrating more than 1,000 species. One of these priceless volumes is owned by the British Library. Nicholas Barker, former deputy keeper there, set out to find the extant coloured copies, compare them, and establish the full history of this monumental book. The text is accompanied by 80 full-page reproductions which, even in this oversize volume (12×15″), are only half the size of the originals. The present copy is elegantly inscribed in ink by the author with a long dedication to Tom Symonds (dated “27 Nov 2001”) on the half title.