![COLONNA, Fabio (1567-?1650). Minus cognitarum stirpium aliquot ac etiam rariorum nostro coelo orientium [in Greek: Ekphrasis], Rome: Faciotti, 1606.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2001/CSK/2001_CSK_09280_0543_000(040029).jpg?w=1)
Details
COLONNA, Fabio (1567-?1650). Minus cognitarum stirpium aliquot ac etiam rariorum nostro coelo orientium [in Greek: Ekphrasis], Rome: Faciotti, 1606.
4° (230 x 163mm.), title in red and black with woodcut printer's device, engraved portrait of Colonna on verso, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, 114 etched full-page plates, of which 102 are botanical and 12 are molluscs, marine creatures and a hippopotamus set in type ornament borders (occasional light spotting, browning and offsetting, some old ink scoring and marginal annotation), later calf, covers blind-stamped, spine gilt-lettered (rubbed and scuffed).
FIRST EDITION. Born in Naples of nobility, Colonna trained as a lawyer but also was acquainted with languages, music, mathematics and optics. Unable to find a remedy for his epilepsy, he turned to the work of the 1st century A. D. physician Dioscorides whose De Materia medica libri quinque he researched, and identified the herb valerian as the herb the writer had recommended for the purpose. He used it with success, but it has been suggested that his improvement in health was attributed to the open air and excercise involved in his plant hunting. He set out to improve the descriptions of plants given by Dioscorides and other classical authorities, and his first book Phytobasanos ("plant touchstone") was published in 1592, and in the above companion work, a high standard was reached (he is believed to have executed the etchings himself after drawings from actual specimens, the drawings now in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Naples), showing details of plant parts decades before their taxonomic importance was recognized. Blunt & Stearn p. 100; Brunet II, 173; Nissen BBI 385; Pritzel 1823.
4° (230 x 163mm.), title in red and black with woodcut printer's device, engraved portrait of Colonna on verso, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, 114 etched full-page plates, of which 102 are botanical and 12 are molluscs, marine creatures and a hippopotamus set in type ornament borders (occasional light spotting, browning and offsetting, some old ink scoring and marginal annotation), later calf, covers blind-stamped, spine gilt-lettered (rubbed and scuffed).
FIRST EDITION. Born in Naples of nobility, Colonna trained as a lawyer but also was acquainted with languages, music, mathematics and optics. Unable to find a remedy for his epilepsy, he turned to the work of the 1st century A. D. physician Dioscorides whose De Materia medica libri quinque he researched, and identified the herb valerian as the herb the writer had recommended for the purpose. He used it with success, but it has been suggested that his improvement in health was attributed to the open air and excercise involved in his plant hunting. He set out to improve the descriptions of plants given by Dioscorides and other classical authorities, and his first book Phytobasanos ("plant touchstone") was published in 1592, and in the above companion work, a high standard was reached (he is believed to have executed the etchings himself after drawings from actual specimens, the drawings now in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Naples), showing details of plant parts decades before their taxonomic importance was recognized. Blunt & Stearn p. 100; Brunet II, 173; Nissen BBI 385; Pritzel 1823.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.