In-8°, 9 (of 10 leaves, without titlepag.], 516 pp with 516 woodcuts of plants, last 20 leaves with some marginal restorations and reinforcements and some dampstaining. Lacking one blank leave. Book block in good condition. Contemporary calf binding with loss of part of the leather, with blindstamped ornaments
First edition in 8vo format of the renowned herbarium by Fuchs in which the woodcuts are the result of reducing the format from the folio edition previously published. The portable and practical format served as a ""field guide"" for contemporary plant collectors and it was devised after the great success of the folio editions in Latin and German. In the dedicatory letter to Antonius Fugger, Fuchs also declares that he wanted to publish this small version of the work as a response to the publication of Ryff-Egenolff's edition of Discoride which had illegally copied the illustrations of Fuchs' folio editions in an imprecise manner. Fuchs thus had the opportunity to demonstrate that the engravings could be reduced in dimension with precision, demonstrating that any comparison between the woodcuts and the pirated editions would not hold up. Nissen counts this edition, along with a German-language edition printed at the same time, among the most satisfying, as well as rarest, herbals. Ref. Adams F1127; Nissen BBI 661
