Catalogue Shopping in 1612

December 04, 2019

The Oldest Book in the GCA Rare Book Collection

Imagine the hustle and bustle of the 1612 Frankfurt-am-Main Fair where vendors would show and sell their wares. Among these vendors was a Dutch painter and nurseryman named Emanuel Sweert (1552-1612). In order to promote the sale of his tulips and other bulbs, he created his Florilegium Amplissimum et Selectissimum, as a guide to his available stock. The Florilegium, the oldest book in the GCA’s Rare Book Collection, can be viewed at the Mertz Library at the New York Botanical Garden. The library is open to the general public. 

Emanuel Sweert[s], was born in 1552 in Zevenbergen, The Netherlands, and died in 1612 in Amsterdam. He also was an engraver, a dealer in natural history specimens, and a prefect of gardens or head gardener in the employ of Emperor Rudolf II in Vienna. Some of the hand-colored images in his Florilegium were said to be copied from earlier sources such as Pierre Vallet’s 1608 Jardin du Roi and the 1611 Florilegium novum by Johann Theodore de Bry. Nonetheless, Sweert’s hand-painted engravings are credited with contributing to the Tulipmania craze of the mid-17th c. The un-priced sale catalog in Latin, Dutch, German, and French went through six editions from 1612-1647. The GCA’s 1612 edition is bound in leather measuring 9 3/4 in. x 14 1/2 in. with some 560 flowers shown on 110 plates, generally grouped by species. His engravings of pineapple and cacti reflected the new-found interest in exotic plants from around the world and enticed the wealthy and powerful to purchase or order them. The grape-scented Iris swertii was cataloged in 1612 and named after Emanuel Sweert. 

Some of the engravings appear hastily painted, perhaps indicating the rush to get the catalog completed for the Frankfurt Fair in 1612. These pages feature Auricula and Hepatica, both native to Europe. 

One of the two frontispieces from Sweert’s Florilegium Amplissimum et Selectissimum (published in 1612).

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