1578 fine woodcut leaf - ARISARUM - van der Borcht

Original from Dodonaeus HISTORIE OF PLANTES English

Pieter van der Borcht

ARISARUM

4,6 x 5,4 inches

London. 1578.

Woodcuts by van der Borcht in fine hand colour. Text in English. One uncoloured woodcut to verso.

Leaf: 11.5 x 7.4 inches.

This original leaf comes from:

REMBERTUS DODONAEUS (1517-1585)

A NIEVVE HERBALL, OR HISTORIE OF PLANTES wherin is contayned the vvhole discourse and perfect description of all sortes of Herbes and Plantes: their divers et sundry kindes: ... First set foorth in the Doutche or Almaigne tongue, by that learned D. Rembert Dodoens, Physition to the Emperour: And nowe first translated out of French into English, by Henry Lyte Esquyer.

AT LONDON by me Gerard Dewes, dwelling in Pawles Churchyarde at the signe of the Swanne, 1578.

Rembert Dodoens (Mechelen June 29, 1517 – Leyden March 10, 1585) was a Flemish physician and botanist, also known under his Latinized name Rembertus Dodonaeus.

Dodoens' herbal Cruydeboeck with 715 images (1554) was influenced by that of Leonhart Fuchs. He divided the plant kingdom in six groups. It treated in detail especially the medicinal herbs, which made this work, in the eyes of many, a pharmacopoeia.
It was translated first into French in 1557 by Charles de L'Ecluse ('Histoire des Plantes') and later into Latin in 1583. THIS BEAUTIFUL LEAF IS FROM THE VERY RARE FIRST ENGLISH EDITION OF 1578.

Dodoens is commemorated in the plant genus Dodonaea, which was named after him by Carolus Linnaeus.


This fine woodcut leaf was drawn by Pieter van der Borcht and cut on wood by Arnaud Nicolai. Dodoens was from 1574 through 1578 the personal physician to the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian II as well as Rudolph II.

Pieter (or Petrus or Pierre) van der Borcht was born in the city of Malines (Mechelen), southwest of Antwerp in the Netherlands, around 1540 (some say 1545). He died around 1608. He is thought to have been the son of Jacques van der Borcht, also an artist, who in 1562 became the doyen of the painter's guild in Malines. The first published artwork attributed to the younger van der Borcht was printed in 1552 by Jacob van Liesvelt in a book titled Dat Vyants net der booser wercken.
In 1565 van der Borcht received a commission from Plantin to make 60 drawings of plants for a herbarium by Rembert Dodoens, the Frumentorum, leguminum, palustrium et aquatilium herbarum historia. Dodoens was also a citizen of Malines, and it is likely that he recommended van der Borcht for the job. Pieter's work so pleased both author and publisher that he was soon the usual illustrator for Plantin's numerous botanical books.

In overall very good condition.


!! THIS IS AN ORIGINAL WOODCUT LEAF FROM 1578 !!

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