Hortus Eystettensis.The Bishop's Garden and Besler's Magnificent Book.1994.80 pages of magnificent colourplates. 1 col. frontispiece. VII, 80 p. Folio.Cloth.

In the early seventeenth century the Prince-Bishop of Eichstaett,Germany, created a splendid garden, the first to contain all theshrubs and flowering plants known at the time, including the latestsimports from the Orient and America. When the garden was complete, hecommissioned a monumental picture book of the plants, the HortusEychstettensis, published in 1613 by botanist apothecary BasiliusBesler, who had helped to develop the garden.The book has 367 colouredcopperengravings. A very few copies were printed on special paper andindividually coloured by a team of illuminators. Nicolas Barking,Deputy Keeper of the British Library, which owns one of the finesthandcoloured editions, set out to find the extant coloured copies,compare them, and establish for the first time the full history of thisremarkable publishing enterprise.The result is a bibliophile'sdetective story, full of politics, intrigue and personalities.