Werner Dressendörfer (Dressendorfer, Werner / Dressendörfer, Werner)

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  • The Book of Plants: The Complete Plates
    ISBN 3822838098 (3-8228-3809-8)
    Hardcover, Taschen America Llc

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    Book summary:

    TASCHEN's 25th anniversary - Special edition! New design, new low price! The most famous botanical record ever committed to paper: Basilius Besler's complete Book of Plants of 1613 A magnificent pictorial document of the flowers grown in the greatest German garden of its time, the Book of Plants is in a class of its own when it comes to the variety and range of flowers engraved. Working under Basilius Besler, a team of at least ten engravers worked on this massive project, translating in situ and specimen drawings faithfully to copper plates. Nearly four hundred years old, the book has survived though the gardens did not; they were destroyed by invading Swedish troops in 1634. However, in 1998 a reconstruction of the original garden opened to the public in Eichst?tt. This facsimile's reproductions - structured by seasons - are taken from a hand-painted edition, one of only a few still extant. In auction, the asking price for a first edition copy is half a million dollars. You can now enjoy its unique qualities for somewhat less.
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  • The Temple of Flora
    ISBN 3822852732 (3-8228-5273-2)
    Hardcover, Taschen America Llc

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    The complete reprint of all color plates from Robert John Thornton's monumental work The Temple of Flora, first published in London in 1799. Presented as 35 loose-leaf Elephant folio-sized color prints as well as a booklet including an introduction and the original texts of the 31 botanical plates

    The year 1799 witnessed the first installment of a work that has gone down in history as one of the most remarkable books of botanical plates ever published. Two centuries have passed since the publication of Robert John Thornton's The Temple of Flora, but its charm remains unsullied today. Although trained as a medical doctor, Thornton (c. 1768 1837) passionately devoted himself to botany, a study that had only a few decades earlier established itself as a modern science through Carl Linnaeus`s revolutionary new system of botanic classification based on the structure of blossoms. Thornton greatly honored the ingenious Swedish scientist and wished his own prodigious undertaking to serve as an ultimate monument to the great botanist.

    Today, Thornton`s large-format plates with their allegorical depictions and stunning floral portraits number among supreme achievements of botanical illustration. Thornton engaged the most renowned flower painters of his age and spared no cost in the creation of this unique work. His reckless enthusiasm, however, reduced his originally considerable fortune so drastically that, sanctioned by Parliament, Thornton had to organize a botanical lottery in order to bring his spectacular project to a provisional end. Surviving complete editions of the Temple number today among the great treasures of only a few libraries; meanwhile, the individual plates have become sought-after and extremely expensive collectors` items, whose particular allure lies in their unusual combination of at times exotic plant motifs with highly romantic background landscapes. More than any other floral painting, the bewitchingly illuminated blossoms of the "Queen Plant," posed before darkening ruins, expresses the late 18th century sentiment that in the following decades found its characteristic expression in European Romantic literature and painting. Including all the plates of the Temple of Flora as loose-leaf color prints, this large-format edition represents a consummate reprint of the work. In addition to the botanical and cultural historical explanations of the individual plate illustrations, the volume narrates the history of the origin of the work and the life of its author. This resplendent reprint has been made from one of the finest complete original copies, belonging to the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.

    TASCHEN s Temple of Flora consists of the following, packaged in a presentation case:
    a 44-page booklet including author Werner Dressendörfer s introduction as well as the texts of the 31 botanical plates
    33 loose-leaf Elephant folio-sized color prints for browsing or framing [via]

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