Leonhart Fuchs. The New Herbal

With his 1543 herb manual, Leonhart Fuchs helped vorm a cornerstone of Renaissance botany. This Taschen-edition of The New Herbal is based on Fuchs’s personal, hand-coloured copy and contains more than 500 illustrations. It captures the first visual record of New World plant types such as tobacco, maize, kidney bean and cactus. Fuchs is remembered as a founding father of modern botany, and his influence remains visible in the vivid color and precise woodcut plates that supported swift species identification and medical understanding. The volume blends scientific detail with historical essays on plant features, origins and healing powers, offering a comprehensive portrait of herbal medicine from a pivotal era.

This edition preserves the long tradition of high-quality botanical publishing, presenting essays on plant origins and healing properties alongside meticulously crafted plates. The book has survived in excellent condition for four-and-a-half centuries, underscoring its significance for historians of medicine and art, gardeners and enthusiasts of herbal traditions. The publication comprises a substantial, multi-language hardcover volume, reflecting a commitment to accessibility and scholarly rigor.

Features

• Based on Fuchs’s personal hand-coloured copy
• Over 500 detailed illustrations
• First visual record of tobacco, maize, cactus
• Essays on plant features, origins, healing powers
• Woodcut plates support quick species identification
• Multilingual, hardcover edition by Taschen