Friday, May 5, 2017

Early Herb & Gardening Books

Thomas Hill The Gardner's Labyrinth 1608

Lusitano Amato Dioscorides Anzarebei De medica materia 1558

You're absolutely correct - not all these images really match the title. These are just the ones that caught my eye from a large collection available at an old Arizona State University website.

Durante Castore Herbario nuovo 1617

Hernando Francisco Rerum medicarum Novæ Hispaniæ thesaurus 1651

Pierre Pomet Histoire generale des drogues 1712


Doris and Marc Patten donated their extensive set of herbal and gardening books to Hayden Library at ASU and a large number of example images from the collection have been digitized.

This is an excellent set of illustrations. Excellent. There is even an outline of the publishing history and short review of each author and their work. This may be a few years old and I'm sure I've seen some of the images previously but this one is worth recirculating periodically, even if it is known around the traps.

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Swiss Fruit, 19th C

An 1860s pomological manuscript documents
the varieties of pears (birensorte) and
apples (apfelsorte) unique to Switzerland

Pomology is a branch of botany relating to the study and cultivation of fruit [W]. I don't believe a post devoted to fruit drawings has ever appeared on facsimilium. It's not for want of material; it's more about the general mediocrity of the genre. Pomological collections tend to be the poor orphan of the botanical world in terms of illustrative qualities. I've saved a lot of samples over the years, but could never quite generate enough enthusiasm to pull the trigger. Until today: this naturalistic and unpretentious set caught my eye. I like it. [Yes, yes: it's all *in my opinion*. Being emperor and guardian of this site has its privileges.]


Birnensorte Winter-Dechantsbirne (Doyenné d'hiver)


Birnensorte Winter-Dechantsbirne (Doyenné d'hiver)



Birnensorte Wasserbirne


Birnensorte Wasserbirne



Birnensorte Sommer-Apothekerbirne (Bon-Chrétien d'été, Römerbirne)


Birnensorte Sommer-Apothekerbirne (Bon-Chrétien d'été, Römerbirne)



Birnensorte St. Germain (Hermannsbirne)


Birnensorte St. Germain (Hermannsbirne



Birnensorte Sülibirne


Birnensorte Sülibirne



Birnensorte Regentin (Passe Colmar, Beurré d'Argenson)


Birnensorte Regentin (Passe Colmar, Beurré d'Argenson)



Birnensorte Graue Herbst-Butterbirne (Beurré gris)


Birnensorte Graue Herbst-Butterbirne (Beurré gris)



Birnensorte Schweizer Bratbirne


Birnensorte Schweizer Bratbirne



Apfelsorte Schafnase (Naht-Apfel, Baarapfel von Wädensweil)


Apfelsorte Schafnase (Naht-Apfel, Baarapfel von Wädensweil)



Birnensorte Clairgeau's Butterbirne (Beurré Clairgeau, Poire Clairgeau)


Birnensorte Clairgeau's Butterbirne (Beurré Clairgeau, Poire Clairgeau)



Birnensorte Längler (Poire d'Etranguillon)


Birnensorte Längler (Poire d'Etranguillon)



Apfelsorte Weisser Winter Calvill (Calville blanc d'hiver, Calville blanche à côtes


Apfelsorte Weisser Winter Calvill (Calville blanc d'hiver, Calville blanche à côtes



Apfelsorte Waldhöfler Holzapfel


Apfelsorte Waldhöfler Holzapfel



Apfelsorte Schafnase (Naht-Apfel, Baarapfel von Wädensweil)


Apfelsorte Schafnase (Naht-Apfel, Baarapfel von Wädensweil



Apfelsorte Gaesdonker Reinette


Apfelsorte Gaesdonker Reinette



Apfelsorte Pariser Rambour Reinette (Reinette de Paris)


Apfelsorte Pariser Rambour Reinette (Reinette de Paris)



Apfelsorte Luikenapfel


Apfelsorte Luikenapfel



Apfelsorte Hornussecher


Apfelsorte Hornussecher


In mid-19th century Switzerland, the wider agricultural community - farmers and rural agricultural associations -  recognised that fruit production was both an important local occupation and also a significant contributor to the national economy. Fruit-growing stakeholders wanted to safeguard the industry, and had been agitating for a long time in support of creating a scientific guide and visual record of all the fruit varieties in the country. The Swiss Agricultural Society commissioned an extensive and detailed review of the apple and pear varieties, grown in Switzerland, through a St Gallen publishing house.

A committee of gardeners, civil servants and the like was formed to direct the project in consultation with Swiss growers and provincial agricultural societies. They chose the varieties of fruit to include and advised how specimens could be collected. The illustrator (Salomon Bühlmeier) was tasked with sketching specific views of the fruits and the branch twigs on which they grew. The committee also guided the nature of the text that accompanied each of the illustrations when it was published: systematic and common names, geographical distribution, general fruit, flower and tree descriptions, details about growing seasons and harvesting, characteristics of the fruit varieties and how they could be prepared and used in the kitchen. The enterprise was supported by some unnamed pomologists and farming types, including, in particular, one Herr Pfau-Schellenberg.

Salomon Bühlmeier (1814-1876) was an academy trained artist who specialised in painting and etching and taught drawing in St Gallen when the pomological project came up. Between 1863 and 1872, Bühlmeier travelled the country contacting farmers and regional agricultural societies, and he produced an exhaustive study of Swiss apples and pears. His watercolour and pencil fruit and twig sketches were drawn life-size, and were turned into lithographs for publication in serial format. I believe the intention was for twice yearly instalments, each featuring five apples and five pears and the final books (a volume for each fruit) contained up to 200 fruit varieties in total (presumably).

About 190 of Bühlmeier's actual sketches were donated to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. These charming artworks were digitised and uploaded only last year. So we are seeing the original drawings above and not the lithographic plates from the final publication (which was called, incidentally, 'Swiss Fruits' (1872), edited by the Swiss Agricultural Society). I saw commentary suggesting that 'Swiss Fruits' was the first ever lithographic publication devoted to fruit species.



Saturday, February 11, 2017

Garland of Ragas, 13th C AH 19th CE


"This is an album (muraqqaʿ) compiled in the late 13th century AH / 19th CE, or possibly later. It contains nineteen Deccani paintings and four pages of shikastah calligraphy, one of which is dated 1211 AH / 1796 CE (f. The paintings, which date to the late 12th century AH / 18th CE or 13th century AH / 19th CE, come from a ragmala series attributable to the Deccan. A ragmala is a visualization of a musical mode or melody. This album contains a mix of visualizations of ragas (male musical modes) and raginis (female musical modes considered to be the wives of the male musical modes)." [Source: Walters Art Museum W. 669]
"Ragamala paintings are pages from a garland (mala) of visual melodies (ragas). Each page visualises a particular mode (five or more musical tones), and is frequently accompanied by a brief inscription or poem that suggests the time of day, season and even mood of the raga.
The transformation of expression from music, through poetry to painting was a gradual one, most likely stimulated by the invention of paper. Medieval musicians would associate each raga or mode with a deity and name it, perhaps as a means of memorising a melody. Intrigued poets of the late medieval period then personified these ragas and elaborated their tales in vivid verbal imagery. These stories along with other influential musical texts provided the poetic source for ragamala painting." [source: What is Ragamala?]


Indian manuscript miniature - music visualisation
Sri Raga



Indian manuscript miniature - music visualisation
Todi ragini



Indian manuscript miniature - music visualisation
Asavari ragini



Indian manuscript miniature - music visualisation
Female performing a ritual at night with a full moon



west Indian manuscript miniature - a music visualisation with Persian calligraphy from Rajisthan
Shikastah^ calligraphy



Indian manuscript miniature - music visualisation
Khambhavati ragini


Indian manuscript miniature - music visualisation
Megha raga



Indian manuscript miniature - music visualisation
Khambhavati ragini



Indian manuscript miniature - music visualisation
Malavakausa raga 
(Malakausika, Malakausa, Malkos raga)