Histoire des Plantes, en laquelle est contenue la description entière des herbes, c'est à dire, leur especes, forme, noms, temperament, vertus & operations. [-] Nouvellement traduite de bas Aleman en François par Charles de l'Escluse. by Dodonaeus, R. (C. Clusius, translator & contributor). - The very first independent work by Clusius, first & only French edition - 1557: [And:] Petit recveil, avqvel est contenve la description d'avcvnes gommes et liqvevrs, provenans tant des arbres, qve des herbes: ensemble de quelques bois, fruicts, & racines aromatiques, desquelles on se sert és boutiques [-]. - 1557.

The very first independent work by Clusius

Dodonaeus, R. (C. Clusius, translator & contributor). Histoire des Plantes, en laquelle est contenue la description entière des herbes, c'est à dire, leur especes, forme, noms, temperament, vertus & operations. [-] Nouvellement traduite de bas Aleman en François par Charles de l'Escluse. [And:] Petit recveil, avqvel est contenve la description d'avcvnes gommes et liqvevrs, provenans tant des arbres, qve des herbes: ensemble de quelques bois, fruicts, & racines aromatiques, desquelles on se sert és boutiques [-]. Antwerp, Jean Loë, 1557. Folio. (24), 584. (36) pp. With ca. 840 woodcuts in the text, including woodcuts by the artist Pieter van der Borcht. Contemporary calf with richly gilt spine, raised bands and red morocco letterpiece.

Rare first and only French edition of the famous herbal or 'Cruydeboeck' by Dodonaeus, first published in 1554 by Jan van der Loe. Only 3 years later it was translated, revised and enlarged with a supplement by Carolus Clusius, or Charles de l'Escluse (1526-1609). This last addition, 'Petit recueil', provided with an extra title page, is in fact the very first independent work by Clusius, the only work published by him in French, giving notes on plants which he had observed in Southern France. The great botanists Rembert Dodoens, or Rembertus Dodonaeus (1517/1518-1585) and Clusius were both Flemish, trained as physicians, who pursued a knowledge of plants not just for medicinal properties, but also in its own right. Both men have held the chairs in botany, within the medical faculty of Leyden. Clusius not only translated the herbal, he considerably enlarged the present work with many new descriptions and illustrations. Some 108 new woodblocks were made of new plants he had seen when visiting gardens of amateur botanists on his travels through Germany, Switzerland and France.

The book is profusely illustrated with fine woodcuts, consisting of 3 main groups. Dodoens had been the translator, although not mentioned on the title, of the Dutch edition of the herbal by Leonard Fuchs, the 'Primi de Stirpium Historia Comentariorum', published between 1543 and 1549. The Latin and German editions of 1545 and the mentioned Dutch edition contain the same 517 woodcuts. "Dodonaeus obtained the use of wood-blocks which had been employed in the octavo edition of Fuchs' work. To these a number of new engravings were added." (Arber p. 82). Since the first edition of Dodoens herbal contains some 715 woodcuts, there was a considerable increase of new woodcuts. In our present edition the greater part of the over 100 new woodcuts were probably drawn by the artist Pieter van der Borcht (ca. 1530-1608), one of the most gifted botanical painters of the 16th century.

An attractive copy in a fine binding, beautifully illustrated. - Botany in the Low Countries, 28; Johnston 78; Nissen BBI, 510; Bibl. Belg. II, 208; Belgica Typographica 951; Cleveland Herbal 78