When Prince-Bishop Johann Konrad von Gemmingen (1593/95–1612) undertook a radical renovation of the Willibaldsburg Castle, overlooking the Altmühl River in Eichstätt, Bavaria, Germany he also created a surrounding palatial pleasure garden of magnificence and grandeur. To preserve the garden for future generations – and provide an 'evergreen' record of its contents, compiling plants from all four seasons and presenting them in that order – he commissioned the garden's director, Nuremberg apothecary Basilius Besler (1561–1629), and a team of engravers to immortalize its treasures in print.
Bastion Garden (Hortus Eystettensis) in Eichstätt, Germany
Fountain at Bastion Garden in Eichstätt, Germany
The resulting Hortus Eystettensis, published in Nuremberg in 1613 and containing 367 hand-coloured plates and detailed descriptions, was a work of meticulous execution and spectacular diversity, and remarkably expensive for its time. As the garden contained a variety of plants imported from exotic locales, the three volumes exhibited a remarkable range, covering a total of 90 families and 340 genera. Due to the decorative, stylized execution of these illustrations, which began to see plants in aesthetic, rather than merely practical or medicinal terms, the book is seen as a milestone in the art of botanical illustration. While published before the time of standardized classification systems, it was nonetheless later described by Carl Linnaeus as an "incomparable work".
Tulipa globosa in Basilius Besler, The Garden at Eichstätt credit Taschen
Mandragora foemina in Basilius Besler, The Garden at Eichstätt credit Taschen
Besler's catalogue long outlived the gardens, which were destroyed in 1634 by invading Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War. However, a lengthy redevelopment project at the historic site culminated in the opening of the modern Bastion Garden in 1998, containing many of the plants shown in the Hortus Eystettensis.
Mandragora autumnalis and Poligonum bistorta at Bastion Garden in Eichstätt, Germany
Tulips at Bastion Garden in Eichstätt, Germany
Offering high-quality reproductions of these arresting illustrations, based on the copy of the Hortus Eystettensis at the University Library of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, written by Klaus Walter Littger, deputy director of the Eichstätt-Ingolstadt University Library and by Werner Dressendörfer, pharmaceutical historian and former honorary Professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, the facsimile multilingual (English, French, German) edition, is accompanied by detailed plate descriptions of each plant's botanical, pharmaceutical, and symbolic significance and an appendix of further essays which place the garden and the book in their historical contexts.
Peonia Polyanthus in Basilius Besler, The Garden at Eichstätt credit Taschen
Folium Opuntiae in Basilius Besler, The Garden at Eichstätt credit Taschen
This edition presents a valuable piece of botanical literature which, on the rare occasions where a copy appears on the market, can fetch prices of over $1,000,000 at auction. In line with Besler's original intentions, this facsimile unfurls the garden to a wider audience and captures it for posterity.
Book cover Basilius Besler, The Garden at Eichstätt credit Taschen
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