Beschreibung:

Pomologia, dat is Beschryvingen en Afbeeldingen van de Beste Soorten van Appels en Peeren, Welke in Neder en Hoog-Duitsland, Frankryk, Engelland..., Leeuwarden, Abraham Ferwerda, [1758], title page with some water staining, twelve engraved folding plates of apples and eight folding plates of pears, all with bright contemporary hand colouring, page 19 with small hole, some water staining to text but not affecting plates, bound with Fructologia of beschryving der Vrugtbomen en Vrugten die men in de hoven plant eb onderhout..., Leeuwarden, Abraham Ferwerda & G. Tresling, [1763], title page and nineteen engraved folding plates with contemporary hand colouring, bound with Dendrologia of Beschryving der Plantagie-Gewassen..., [and] Beschryving van de Plantagie-Tuin of van de Wilde-Bloom en Hester-Gewassen..., [1763], some water staining, later half calf, slight wear to extremities, large 4to Nissen BBI 1077 (Pomologia) and 1078 (Fructologia). Knoop was a German gardener to the Landgraf of Hessen-Kassel. In 1730, he was sent to Marienburg in Leuwaarden by the Landgrafs daughter, Marie-Luise von Hessen-Kassel, the widowed Princess of Orange, where he was in charge of the ornamental as well as the kitchen gardens. He was very successful in cultivating potatoes and in December 1742, potatoes were served for the very first time. Despite his success, he was sacked in 1749 due to drunkeness. In order to make ends meet, he taught mathematics and wrote several books on various subjects, including plant systems, gardening , astronomy, mathematics and history. Despite all his efforts to reconstruct his life, he became impoverished and died in 1769 in a poor house in Amsterdam. (1)