Icones Plantarum Rariorum

"..the ambassador of Flora itself, bringing us the treasures from foreign worlds.."
[Carl Linnaeus about his friend NJ van Jacquin]

Piper umbellatum

Bromelia humilis

Phyllanthus speciosa

Arum helleoborifolium

Zamia integrifolia

Cassia sensitiva

Ornithogalum caudatum

Hedysarum pictum

Dioscorea triphylla

Dracaena terminalis

Zamia angustifolia

Hedysarum vespertilionis

Polypodium hippocrepis

Polypodium multifidum

Iatropha gossypifolia

Ornithogalum pyramidale

Polyplodium trifoliatum

Begonia dichotoma

Dioscorea villosa

Nikolaus Joseph (van) Jacquin (1727-1817) was a Dutch scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany in Leiden, Paris and, most notably, Vienna. As a regular visitor to the gardens at Schönbrunn Palace* in Vienna, Jacquin met the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and was invited to accompany a botanical collecting voyage to the Caribbean and Central America in the 1750s.

The four year expedition gave rise to Jacquin's first botanical publication and brought him to the attention of the great Carl Linnaeus*, who became a life-long correspondent and friend of Jacquin. Linnaeus commented about that first Jacquin publication ['Enumeratio Systematica Plantarum' (1760)] on West Indian plants:

"I have seldom seen such a small booklet so rich in golden knowledge. I read it during the evening and could not sleep at night because I dreamed of your beautiful plants."

Professorships in geology, chemistry and biology at various institutions followed and a generous pension allowed Jacquin the freedom to pursue a career publishing illustrated botanical folios. These works shared Jacquin's sense of scientific fidelity in which specimens were reproduced, as we see above, without the ostentatious embellishment one often meets in 18th century botanical books.

The images displayed here were chosen because they are all over-sized fold-outs from a massive three volume series published in Vienna between 1781 and 1793. 'Icones Plantarum Rariorum' features nearly six hundred and fifty (!) hand-coloured engravings that had begun life as a supplement to earlier releases on Viennese and Austrian botany.

Although Jacquin was an accomplished scientific illustrator himself, other duties meant that his detailed and precise instructions were carried out by hired artists: the Bauer brothers, Joseph Scharf and Joseph Hofbauer. The plate quality varies at times, but the vast majority of the illustration work is excellent. I would happily put this at the top of my 18th century florilegium Christmas shopping list.

The three volumes of 'Icones Plantarum Rariorum' are available from the Botanicus website. The list of illustrated species can be more easily seen at the old Missouri Botanical Gardens sites: volumes ONE, TWO & THREE.

Jacquin biographies: Botanicus, Wikipedia.

Jacquin previously: Fragmenta Botanica [and]. And in general: flora.

{I will be adding a further selection of images to the flickr set later this week [DONE!]}


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Locomotive Drawings

The William Halsey Locomotive Drawing Collection

Brandt Loco. Works, Buffalo Div, Hornellsville, 1875; Erie Railway; Locomotive 409, cab and tender painted black with green and gold detailing, 409 painted in green and gold on tender, 4-4-0 wheel configuration, watermark: Keuffel & Esser Co.




Brooks Loco. Works, Buffalo Div, Hornellsville, 1873; Erie Railway; Locomotive 400, cab and tender painted dark red with red and gold detailing, 400 painted into motif on the side of tender, 4-4-0 wheel configuration, Jany. 1873, Buffalo Division written in lower left corner, slight foxing of print




Delaware Div, Rogers Loco. Works, Susquehanna, PA 1875; Erie Railway; Locomotive 319, cab and tender painted dark red with blue, green, red and gold detailing, 319 painted in red and gold on tender, 4-4-0 wheel configuration, 1875 written in bottom right corner (period or later?)



Dunkirk Shop, Buffalo Shop, Hornellsville 1866; Erie Railway; Locomotive 69, cab and tender painted dark red with red, yellow, gold and green detailing on the engine, Erie Railway painted in gold on the tender with a motif painted in the center, 4-4-0 wheel configuration, watermark: Keuffel & Esser Co. Universal




Rogers Loco. Works, Delaware Div, Port Jervis, NY 1866; Erie Railway; Locomotive 195, cab and tender painted dark red with red and gold detailing, 195 painted in gold on the tender, 4-4-0 wheel configuration




Rogers Loco. Works, Delaware Div, Susquehanna, PA 1875; Erie Railway; Locomotive 104, cab and tender painted black with red, yellow and gold detailing, 104 painted in gold on the tender, 4-4-0 wheel configuration, watermark: J WHATMAN 1897




Swinburne Loco. Works, Eastern Div, Jersey City, NJ 1866; Erie Railway; Locomotive 242, cab and tender painted dark brown with yellow, red, green and gold detailing, 242 painted in red and gold on tender, 4-4-0 wheel configuration




Wilmarth Loco. Works, Delaware Div, Susquehanna, PA 1868; Erie Railway; Locomotive 183, cab and tender painted dark red with red, yellow and gold detailing, 183 painted in red and gold on tender, 4-4-0 wheel configuration




Wilmarth Loco. Works, Eastern Div, Jersey City, NJ 1866; Erie Railway; Locomotive 175, cab and tender painted dark brown with red blue and gold detailing, 175 painted in red and gold on tender, 4-4-0 wheel configuration, watermark: Keuffel & Esser Co.

"The William Halsey Locomotive Drawing Collection contains 84 watercolor drawings by William Halsey (born ca. 1845- died ca. 1900), a railroad enthusiast probably working in the New York region as early as 1863 until the 1890s. [..]

A significant aspect of the drawings is the record of colors and paint schemes used at the time. Some of these drawings represent the only records of this form of applied decorative railroad art to survive. As a group, the engines display a wide range of colors, and frequently display schemes indicative of locomotive builders or the shop’s style that maintained them."

The William Halsey Locomotive Drawing Collection is available from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Ottheinrich Miniatures

Ottheinrich Bible
(15th-16th century : Bavaria)

You will be doing yourself a favour if you click through to the enlarged versions.

Regarded as one of the finest of all illuminated manuscripts in existence, the Ottheinrich Bible was thought to have been commissioned in about 1425 by the Royal Court of Bavaria. The unusually large manuscript was not completed until the following century when the German painter and engraver, Mathis Gerung, was offered 60 Rhenish guilders and winter clothes to decorate the text (the employment contract survives to this day).

The Bible carries the name of the benefactor who supported its completion. Ottheinrich (1502-1559) was the Prince of Neuburg, Elector Palatine, soldier, pilgrim, reformer, art patron (and adopted patron of BibliOdyssey), and the first unambiguously documented owner of the Bible.

The enormous book in the German vernacular language (and that only covers the New Testament) was eventually divided in the 19th century and bound into eight manuscripts which had a partially separated journey over the next century and a half. It was only about two years ago that all volumes were reunited when the privately owned sections were purchased by the Bavarian State Library in Munich (noted).

"Dr Christopher de Hamel, Consultant to the Western Manuscripts department at Sotheby’s [pdf], comments: “In the census of the hundred greatest illuminated manuscripts, European or Oriental, the present example is the only one ever likely to appear on the market. Conceived as the first illuminated bible and on an Imperial scale, it is one of the most profusely illustrated medieval bibles in existence. It is probably the last remaining manuscript in private hands from the incomparable Palatine Library, one of the greatest art collections ever formed. The manuscript has not changed hands except by descent since 1632, and in addition, it is one of the best documented manuscripts in the world, which gives it an academic importance beyond equal."

[In relation to the five volumes sold at auction [pdf] in 2007]:
"written by a single scribe in dark brown ink in a very fine large gothic liturgical hand, opening words of books in larger script, headings in red, capitals touched in red, small capitals and paragraph-marks in red, TWO HUNDRED LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS, mostly 5 lines high in a variety of renaissance designs on coloured panels with delicate tracery in liquid gold, EIGHTY-SIX LARGE MINIATURES up to full-page in size, eighty-three of them the width of two columns and mostly about quarter- to half-page in size, three of the miniatures column-width, all finely executed in full colours and liquid gold, a few original flaws in the vellum, some occasional rubbing and abrasion of miniatures.."

All the images above -- in random order -- are cropped from the full manuscript page and some more images (including full page examples) are available in the flickr set. The set of miniatures available from wikimedia appears to be either older scans or come from the 2002 facsimile publication.

• The magnificent Ottheinrich Bible (Cgm 8010) is available in eight sections (flash or html) at the website of the Bavarian State Library of Munich. [English landing page]
• Faksimile Verlag 2002 reproduction site.
• Previously: illuminated / religion.
  

Indian Textile Designs

The traditional Indian textile patterns seen above were taken from a book-cd I had out on loan from the library some time ago. Unfortunately, I don't recall the title, but these aren't exactly secret or unique designs.

If you've ever been to India, some of these simple patterns might be familiar. They constitute a small sampling from a dynamic parade of unrelenting culture: the literal and metaphorical fabric of an astonishing Indian society. There are more examples in the set.

Previously: http://www.delicious.com/BibliOdyssey/india