Historia unnd Beschreibung Influentischer Elementischer un Naturlicher Wirckungen....

1578. THURNEISSER ZUM THURN, Leonhardt. Historia unnd Beschreibung Influentischer Elementischer un Naturlicher Wirckungen Aller fremden unnd Heimischen Erdgewechssen auch irer Subtiliteten sampt wahrhafftiger und Kunstlicher Conterfeitung dereselbigen auch aller teiler... [12], CLVI, [24] pp., woodcut title-page, 42 arabesque initials, 12 astrological diagrams, 126 small woodcut figures, 36 botanical woodcuts within figured boarders, portrait of the author, allegorical figure within elaborate border, printer's device. Folio in sixes, 356 x 240 mm., bound in eighteenth century boards, in a dark green half Morocco box. Berlin: Michael Hentzske, 1578. First German edition, published simultaneously with the Latin, one of the greatest eccentricities of botanical literature containing extraordinarily beautiful woodcut figures and elaborate woodcut borders. "As a piece of printing, this is a remarkable book" (Ferguson). Leonhardt Thurneisser (1530-1596) amassed a huge fortune in Berlin making amulets, talismans, secret remedies, and casting nativities, for which he employed more than 200 people. Thurneisser was also a prolific author, learned in the occult, herbalism, mathematics, and necromancy; many of his written works were printed at his own press in Berlin, which in 1577 he sold to Michael Hentzke, the printer of the present volume. The author here describes herbal remedies according to astronomical rules; the woodcuts of plants are set within a border containing representations of the constellation under which each plant is governed; the alchemical properties and virtues of each are also revealed. There are astrological diagrams that chart the course of illness and indicate appropriate herbal treatment. All the illustrations were drawn by Franz Friedrich; the woodcuts were executed by Peter Hille, who signed the title-page with his monogram according to Strauss, German Single-Leaf Woodcut 1550-1600 (I, 205-13). Some marginal worming, small waterstains to margin of last few leaves and final leaf soiled. Nevertheless a very pleasing copy of this rare work. Nissen, BBI 1962. Pritzel 9338. Mellon, Alchemy and the Occult 45. Durling 4354. Arber 258-61. BM/STC, German 862. Ferguson II, 454-5. See also Hunt I, 135 for the German language edition.