Beschreibung:

Botany.- [Bry (Johann Theodor de) and others]. [Verzameling van een Meenigte Kruyden, Bloemen, Wortels, en Andere Gewasschen], title with 113 plates only, many from Merian's 'Florilegium renovatum et auctum: variorum maximeque rariorum germinum, forum ac plantarum', all plates without numbers or signatures, engravings, on various laid papers with several variant armorial watermarks [probably 18th century], the title page watermarked '1741', ten plates with hand-colouring, various sizes, all sheets approx. 315 x 195 mm. (12 1/2 x 7 3/4 in), occasional minor surface dirt, some spotting and browning, loosely inserted into later boards, large 4to, [18th century]. Literature: cf. Hunt 237 ⁂ Michael Valentini (1657-1729), a physician, professor of medicine and collector of natural history specimens, acquired the plates from de Bry's famous 'Florilegium renovatum et auctum' of 1641. Valentini re-published them alongside other botanical plates in his own publication 'Viridarium Reformatum, seu Regnum Vegetabile: Krauter Buch' in 1714, and the present collection would appear be a similar, albeit variant, suite of impressions from the 18th century.