Potent plants. Mother Nature's lovely medicine cabinet 
In 1543, Leonhart Fuchs, physician and pioneer of modern botany, published a groundbreaking medical research book: a comprehensive study of herbs. Cataloguing more than 500 types of plants, many of which originated in the recently discovered New World, the New Kreüterbuch, or New Herbal, brought together masterly, detailed woodcuts of the plants with essays describing their features, origins, and medicinal powers. Fuchs's revolutionary book is still, 500 years after his birth, a model for botanical illustration and research. TASCHEN's new publication, whose reproductions are drawn from Fuchs's personal, hand-colored copy, which has miraculously survived four-and-a-half centuries in pristine condition, includes over 500 splendid illustrations, excerpted facsimiles of Fuchs's original text, and an essay comparing the use of healing herbs then and now. Both an important reference book and a superbly illustrated work, the New Herbal is, as Fuchs himself described it, "a merry book to look at."

Leonhart Fuchs: The New Herbal of 1543

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Dressendörfer, Werner

Dobat, Klaus

Gardening & Landscape Design

Taschen

Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840) was forever in high demand. Official court draftsman to Queen Marie Antoinette (who purportedly summoned him at midnight to paint a cactus), and later a favorite of Joséphine Bonaparte, the artist brought flowers to the highest of places, and offset the chaotic upheaval of the French Revolution with the delicacy of perfectly drawn petals.
This reprint brings together 144 examples of Redouté’s flower, branch, and fruit drawings. Originally published between 1827 and 1833, these precise yet tender illustrations are as delightful as they are informative, recording some of the most delicate plant specimens in the world and evoking the bygone magnificence of Parisian greenhouses and gardens.

Selection of the Most Beautiful Flowers / Auslese der Schonsten Blumen / Choix des Plus Belles Fleurs: The Complete Plates, 1827-1833

Arts & Photography

Lack, H. Walter

History & Criticism

Taschen America, LLC

The scientific and artistic excellence of the Album Vilmorin The French company Vilmorin-Andrieux &amp; Cie arose in the 18th century from the collaboration of Philippe Victoire de Vilmorin—a grain and plant merchant and connoisseur—and his father-in-law, Pierre Andrieux, Botanist to the King. The Vilmorins, though only producers and merchants on the Paris market, contributed enormously to the botanical and agronomic knowledge of their time. Their first catalogue, comprising all kinds of seeds for kitchen-garden vegetables—including legumes, salad plants, flower seeds and bulbs—appeared in 1766. It was followed by a series of Publications périodiques in which the quality of botanical and horticultural information was equaled only by the illustrations. By the mid-19th century, the firm had become the most important seed company in the world—active in production, trade, and scientific advances, thanks largely to Louis de Vilmorin's crucial research into selection and heredity in the 1850s. At the height of its international renown, the company published its splendid Album Vilmorin. Les Plantes potagères (The Vegetable Garden, 1850–1895) featuring 46 magnificent color plates. The Vilmorins employed some 15 painters to create this work of agro-botanic iconography; most had trained as artist-naturalists at the Jardin des Plantes, the former Royal Gardens, including Elisa Champin, who painted a large number of the finest plates. These illustrations—reproduced here with exquisite care and accuracy—transcend mere artistic interest, beautiful as they are; they are also a valuable resource for anyone researching cultivarietal evolution, and old varieties of fruits and vegetables. About the author: Prof. Dr. Werner Dressendörfer, pharmaceutical historian and lecturer at the university of Erlangen, is currently conducting research into the history of medicinal plants from a socio-cultural viewpoint. He has authored numerous pharmaceutical publications and scientific papers on the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

The Vegetable Garden / Der gemusegarten / Les plantes potageres: Album Vilmorin

Originally published between 1850 and 1895, Album Vilmorin: Les Plantes potagères (The Vegetable Garden) brought garden glory to the printed page. Featuring 46 magnificent color plates, the book was a marvel of agro-botanic iconography and a triumph for its publishers, the illustrious Vilmorin-Andrieux &amp; Cie, the most important seed company of the 19th century.
In this new edition, TASCHEN reprints The Vegetable Garden illustrations with utmost accuracy and care. A sure favorite for cooks, gardeners, and anyone rejoicing in the great outdoors, the edition brims with wholesome pleasure as much as expert botanical understanding. From gleaming eggplants to the plumpest strawberries, these vivid plates are testimony not only to the skill of the original artists, most of whom trained as artist-naturalists at the famous Jardin des Plantes, but also to the beauty of simple sensory pleasures―texture, freshness, and flavor.

Vilmorin, Vegetable Garden

Individual Artists

An art book for food lovers: Mouthwatering illustrations of 19th century French garden vegetables The French company Vilmorin-Andrieux &amp; Cie arose in the 18th century from the collaboration between Philippe Victoire de Vilmorin—a grain and plant merchant and connoisseur—and his father-in-law, Pierre Andrieux, Botanist to the King. The Vilmorins, though only producers and merchants on the Paris market, contributed enormously to the botanical and agronomic knowledge of their time. Their first catalog, comprising all kinds of seeds for kitchen-garden vegetables—including legumes, salad plants, flower seeds and bulbs—appeared in 1766. It was followed by a series of Publications périodiques in which the quality of the botanical and horticultural information was equaled only by the illustrations. By the mid-19th century, the firm had become the most important seed company in the world—active in production, trade, and scientific advances, thanks largely to Louis de Vilmorin’s crucial research into selection and heredity in the 1850s. At the height of its international renown, the company published its splendid Album Vilmorin. Les Plantes potagères (The Vegetable Garden, 1850–1895) featuring 46 magnificent color plates. The Vilmorins employed some 15 painters to create this work of agro-botanic iconography; most had trained as artist-naturalists at the Jardin des Plantes, the former Royal Gardens, including Elisa Champin, who painted a large number of the finest plates. These illustrations—reproduced here with exquisite care and accuracy—transcend mere artistic interest, beautiful as they are; they are also a valuable resource for anyone researching cultivarietal evolution, and old varieties of fruits and vegetables. Text in English, French, and German

The Vegetable Garden

Science & Math

Biological Sciences

Flower power: A stunning achievement in botanical illustration More than two centuries have passed since the publication of Robert John Thornton’s The Temple of Flora in 1799, but its charm remains unsullied. Although trained as a medical doctor, Thornton (c. 1768–1837) passionately devoted himself to botany. Only a few decades earlier, Carl Linnaeus had established his revolutionary new system of classification, which today continues to form the backbone of such natural sciences as botany and zoology. Thornton greatly honored the ingenious Swedish scientist and wished his own prodigious undertaking to serve as an ultimate monument to the great botanist. Today, Thornton’s large-format plates with their stunning floral portraits number among supreme achievements of botanical illustration. Thornton engaged the most renowned flower painters of his age and spared no cost in the creation of this unique work. Surviving complete editions of the Temple number today among the great treasures of only a few libraries; meanwhile, the individual plates have become sought-after and extremely expensive collectors’ items, whose particular allure lies in their unusual combination of monumental, at times exotic plants with highly romantic background landscapes. More than any other floral painting, the bewitchingly illuminated blossoms of the Night-Blooming Cereus, posed before darkening ruins, expresses the late 18th-century sentiment that in the following decades found its characteristic expression in European Romantic literature and painting. Including all the plates of the Temple of Flora, this edition represents a consummate reprint of the work. In addition to the botanical and cultural historical explanations of the individual plate illustrations, the volume narrates the history of the origin of the work and the life of its author. This resplendent reprint has been made from one of the finest complete original copies, belonging to the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Text in English, French, German, and Spanish

Robert John Thornton: The Temple of Flora

Graphic Design

Leonhart Fuchs. Das Kräuterbuch von 1543

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Reference

Taschen Deutschland GmbH+

Leonhart Fuchs. Le Nouvel Herbier de 1543

Leonhart Fuchs (1501–1566,) was a founding father of modern botany, honored to this day in the vivid flower, and corresponding color, Fuchsia. In 1543, Fuchs combined his masterful botanical knowledge with groundbreaking medical research in his New Herbal, a catalog of some 500 types of plants and their healing properties.
While a dependable scientific reference, The New Herbal won fame above all with the detail and quality of its illustrations. Alongside essays describing the plants’ features, origins, and medicinal powers, Fuchs presented each plant with meticulous woodcut illustrations, refining the ability for swift species identification and setting new standards for accuracy and quality in botanical publications. From the age of great exploration, The New Herbal also documented plant types from the recently discovered New World, offering the first visual record of tobacco, maize, kidney bean, and cactus.
This fresh TASCHEN reprint is based on Fuchs’s personal, hand-colored copy, which has miraculously survived four-and-a-half centuries in pristine condition. Fascinating for historians of medicine and art, gardeners, and anyone interested in herbal medicine, the volume features over 500 splendid illustrations, excerpted facsimiles of Fuchs’s original texts, and an essay exploring the history of healing herbs.

Leonhart Fuchs. The New Herbal of 1543

Floral Masterpieces The finest floral treasures of Pierre-Joseph Redouté French flower painter Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840) devoted himself exclusively to capturing the diversity of flowering plants in watercolor paintings which were then published as copper engravings, with careful botanical descriptions. The darling of wealthy Parisian patrons including Napoleon’s Josephine, he was dubbed “the Raphael of flowers,” and is regarded to this day as a master of botanical illustration. This elegant catalogue brings together all color engravings from Redouté’s illustrations of Roses, Lilies and Choix des plus belles fleures et quelques branches des plus beaux fruits (Selection of the Most Beautiful Blooms and Branches with the Finest Fruits), offering a complete overview of Redouté’s marvelous ability to combine accuracy with beauty, as well as a glimpse into the magnificent greenhouses and gardens of a bygone Paris. About the series: Bibliotheca Universalis— Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe at an unbeatable, democratic price! Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, the name TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing. Bibliotheca Universalis brings together nearly 100 of our all-time favorite titles in a neat new format so you can curate your own affordable library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia. Bookworm’s delight — never bore, always excite! Text in English, French, and German

Redouté. Book of Flowers: The Complete Plates

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