Hendrik Adriaan van Reede tot Drakenstein (1636-1691) and Hortus Malabaricus. A Contribution to the History of Dutch Colonial Botany. 1986. 80 figs. XVI,295 p. Lex8vo. Cloth.

Deals with Van Reede's career as a servant of the Dutch East India Company and his development into an amateur of botany. As commander of Malabar (the present Kerala, India), during 1670-1677, he organized detailed descriptions and large-size illustrations of 740 tropical plants with the help of Indian and European botanists, physicians, philologists, interpreters, and draughtsmen. The genesis of "Hortus Malabaricus" is explained on the basis of "Viridarium Orientale" of Matthew of St.Joseph, Van Reede's main assistant, as well as the commentaries by Arnold Syen and Jan Commelin. The insertion of "Hortus Malabaricus" in the European botanical literature up to 1800 is discussed on the strength of a selection of fifteen pre-Linnaean and Linnaean botanists, including Linnaeus. A number of the original drawings of "Hortus Malabaricus" and Matthew's drawings in "ViridariumOrientale" is reproduced here for the first time.