MICHAEL BOYM (1612-1659) Flora Sinensis, Fructus Floresque Humillime Porrigens ... Leopoldo Ignatio, Hungariae .. , Vienna: Mattha, 1656. 2° (335 x 230 mm.), 38 leaves including 23 ENGRAVED PLATES IN FINE CONTEMPORARY HAND-COLOURING, 21 plates with text on verso, unsigned leaf between M1 and M2 with plate on recto and verso (lower part of fore-margins throughout, including title and blank before title, very skilfully restored without loss of text or illustration). Contemporary vellum (neatly restored, ties renewed). Provenance : Adaukt Voigt, Piarist, antiquarian, author of De Scientiarum Artiumque in Bohemia Porgressu , 1773 (signature in ink dated 1777 on title); sold in these Rooms 29 May 1992, lot 147. FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE EARLIEST EUROPEAN WORKS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF CHINA AND PROBABLY THE RAREST OF ALL NATURAL HISTORY WORKS ON ASIA. There are 17 botanical plates, 5 of animals and one of the Nestorian stele, with the names inscribed in Chinese and Latin. The Flora Sinensis was published with plain plates, a few copies however were coloured (see Walravens: China Illustrata 190). The 17 botanical plates represent chiefly the cultivated fruits of south-eastern China including papaya, banana, lychee, pineapple, mango, ginger, etc. The illustration of the rhubarb is probably the first representation of this vegetable in a book, although the plant had been imported into Europe from the Levant before the arrival of the Jesuits in China. They are followed by an account of some Chinese mammals and birds, including a snake, turtle, hippopotamus, and leopard. Michael Boym, a Jesuit missionary, was born in Lwów, Poland in 1612. In 1643 he went to China where he became one of the most successful missionary scientists. Securing the confidence of the Chinese Court he was sent as a Chinese ambassador to Venice and Rome between 1652 and 1656. He died in 1659 in the province of Kuang si. Apart from his botanical work Boym was an excellent cartographer; the draft of his projected atlas of China is now in the Vatican Library. Father Boym's concern was to introduce Chinese science to Europe. From original Chinese medical sources he compiled a manuscript which he sent to Batavia in 1658, for transport to Europe. This work was finally edited by Andreas Cleyer, physician in the service of the Dutch East India Company and published in Frankfurt 1682 under the title. Specimen medicinae Sinicae . Due to rivalry between the V.O.C. and the Jesuits, Bohm's name is not mentioned. "This is the first European Publication on Chinese plants" (Merril & Walker. Bibl. of Eastern Asiatic Botany ). Bretschneider in 1881 writes: "The original work of Boym's Flora Sinensis published in Latin is a very rare book", and cordier indicates "Extrêmement rare". No other copy is listed in Book Auction Records since its beginning in 1902 and likewise there is no copy in the Jahrbuch der Auktionspreise. No copy in the Plesch or de Belder collections. NUC records 2 locations: Arnold Arboretum and University of California. Nissen BBI 220; Hunt 265; Cordier 442; Sommervogel II 70. Further see: Bretschneider: Early European Researches pp. 21-24, and Idem. History of European Botanical Discoveries in China pp. 13-14.
MICHAEL BOYM (1612-1659) Flora Sinensis, Fructus Floresque Humillime Porrigens ... Leopoldo Ignatio, Hungariae .. , Vienna: Mattha, 1656. 2° (335 x 230 mm.), 38 leaves including 23 ENGRAVED PLATES IN FINE CONTEMPORARY HAND-COLOURING, 21 plates with text on verso, unsigned leaf between M1 and M2 with plate on recto and verso (lower part of fore-margins throughout, including title and blank before title, very skilfully restored without loss of text or illustration). Contemporary vellum (neatly restored, ties renewed). Provenance : Adaukt Voigt, Piarist, antiquarian, author of De Scientiarum Artiumque in Bohemia Porgressu , 1773 (signature in ink dated 1777 on title); sold in these Rooms 29 May 1992, lot 147. FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE EARLIEST EUROPEAN WORKS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF CHINA AND PROBABLY THE RAREST OF ALL NATURAL HISTORY WORKS ON ASIA. There are 17 botanical plates, 5 of animals and one of the Nestorian stele, with the names inscribed in Chinese and Latin. The Flora Sinensis was published with plain plates, a few copies however were coloured (see Walravens: China Illustrata 190). The 17 botanical plates represent chiefly the cultivated fruits of south-eastern China including papaya, banana, lychee, pineapple, mango, ginger, etc. The illustration of the rhubarb is probably the first representation of this vegetable in a book, although the plant had been imported into Europe from the Levant before the arrival of the Jesuits in China. They are followed by an account of some Chinese mammals and birds, including a snake, turtle, hippopotamus, and leopard. Michael Boym, a Jesuit missionary, was born in Lwów, Poland in 1612. In 1643 he went to China where he became one of the most successful missionary scientists. Securing the confidence of the Chinese Court he was sent as a Chinese ambassador to Venice and Rome between 1652 and 1656. He died in 1659 in the province of Kuang si. Apart from his botanical work Boym was an excellent cartographer; the draft of his projected atlas of China is now in the Vatican Library. Father Boym's concern was to introduce Chinese science to Europe. From original Chinese medical sources he compiled a manuscript which he sent to Batavia in 1658, for transport to Europe. This work was finally edited by Andreas Cleyer, physician in the service of the Dutch East India Company and published in Frankfurt 1682 under the title. Specimen medicinae Sinicae . Due to rivalry between the V.O.C. and the Jesuits, Bohm's name is not mentioned. "This is the first European Publication on Chinese plants" (Merril & Walker. Bibl. of Eastern Asiatic Botany ). Bretschneider in 1881 writes: "The original work of Boym's Flora Sinensis published in Latin is a very rare book", and cordier indicates "Extrêmement rare". No other copy is listed in Book Auction Records since its beginning in 1902 and likewise there is no copy in the Jahrbuch der Auktionspreise. No copy in the Plesch or de Belder collections. NUC records 2 locations: Arnold Arboretum and University of California. Nissen BBI 220; Hunt 265; Cordier 442; Sommervogel II 70. Further see: Bretschneider: Early European Researches pp. 21-24, and Idem. History of European Botanical Discoveries in China pp. 13-14.
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