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{"id":16246,"date":"2019-04-18T11:00:24","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T15:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/?p=16246"},"modified":"2023-05-01T15:57:26","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T19:57:26","slug":"commelins-worldwide-botanical-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2019\/04\/18\/commelins-worldwide-botanical-web\/","title":{"rendered":"Commelin\u2019s Worldwide Botanical Web"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Harold J. Cook ~<\/p>\n<p><em>Originally published in <\/em><a title=\"NLM's Hidden Treasure (PDF)\" href=\"http:\/\/collections.nlm.nih.gov\/HiddenTreasure\">Hidden Treasure: The National Library of Medicine<\/a><em>, 2011<\/em><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16243\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16243\" style=\"width: 387px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ht_035.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"16243\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2019\/04\/18\/commelins-worldwide-botanical-web\/ht_035\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ht_035.jpg?fit=1085%2C1200&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1085,1200\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}\" data-image-title=\"HT_035\" data-image-description=\"<p>The \u201ceuphorbium\u201d of antiquity was reputed to be a powerful purgative; Commelin discusses whether this is that same plant. <\/p>\n\" data-image-caption=\"<p>\u201cEuphorbium Cerei,\u201d from the North African coast in Horti medici Amstelodamensis, vol. 1, facing p. 21<br \/>\nNational Library of Medicine #2327003R<\/p>\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ht_035.jpg?fit=271%2C300&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ht_035.jpg?fit=840%2C929&ssl=1\" class=\"wp-image-16243\" title=\"Vol. 1, facing p. 21\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ht_035.jpg?resize=387%2C428&ssl=1\" alt=\"Two volumes of a large book, one open to display a stunning illustration of a cactus.\" width=\"387\" height=\"428\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16243\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u201cEuphorbium Cerei,\u201d from the North African coast (The \u201ceuphorbium\u201d of antiquity was reputed to be a powerful purgative; Commelin discusses whether this is that same plant) in <em>Horti medici Amstelodamensis<\/em>, 1697\u20131701<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/nlmcatalog\/?term=2327003R\"><em>National Library of Medicine #2327003R<\/em><\/a><br \/><em>Photography by Arne Svenson<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/nlmcatalog\/?term=2327003R\">Horti Medici Amstelodamensis Rariorum \u2026 Plantarum Historia<\/a><\/em> (the\u00a0 title translates to: <em>Description and Images . . . of the Rare Plants of the East and West Indies in the Medical Garden of Amsterdam, and of Other Exotic Plants Collected with Zeal and Effort in the Residences of Amsterdam<\/em>), usually ascribed to Jan Commelin (1629\u201392) and Caspar Commelin (1667\u20131731), is one of several beautiful <a href=\"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/category\/series\/curious-herbals\/\">botanical atlases<\/a> published in the Dutch Republic in the years prior to the work of taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus (1707\u201378). The atlas is based on the collections of the botanical garden in Amsterdam, a garden (or hortus) that had become one of the most important nodes in a network of collectors that stretched around the globe. Some collectors were academics (mostly professors who taught about the uses of plants in medicine), but most were enthusiasts, including some leading citizens of Amsterdam, who took a keen interest in growing unusual specimens in their own gardens and keeping up-to-date with descriptions of the latest findings.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16244\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16244\" style=\"width: 428px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ht_034.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"16244\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2019\/04\/18\/commelins-worldwide-botanical-web\/ht_034\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ht_034.jpg?fit=697%2C1200&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"697,1200\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}\" data-image-title=\"HT_034\" data-image-description=\"<p>The clitoris-shaped flower was described by Jacobus Breyn in his 1678 Exoticarum Plantarum Centuria Prima.<\/p>\n\" data-image-caption=\"<p>\u201cFlos Clytorius Breynii\u201d in Horti medici Amstelodamensis, vol. 1, facing p. 47<br \/>\nNational Library of Medicine #2327003R<\/p>\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ht_034.jpg?fit=174%2C300&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ht_034.jpg?fit=595%2C1024&ssl=1\" class=\"wp-image-16244 \" title=\"Vol. 1, facing p. 47\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ht_034.jpg?resize=428%2C737&ssl=1\" alt=\"A hand-colored copper-plate engraving of a vining pea-like plant with blue flowers.\" width=\"428\" height=\"737\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16244\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u201cFlos Clytorius Breynii\u201d (the clitoris-shaped flower described by Jacobus Breyn in his 1678 <em>Exoticarum Plantarum Centuria Prima<\/em>) in <em>Horti medici Amstelodamensis<\/em>, 1697\u20131701<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/nlmcatalog\/?term=2327003R\"><em>National Library of Medicine #2327003R<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Gardens like Amsterdam\u2019s were simultaneously sites for study; centers for the collection, acclimatization, and distribution of living plants; civic institutions for people seeking both pleasure and edification about God\u2019s creation; and displays of the ingenuity, power, luxury, and world-embracing connections of the city\u2019s patricians. Dutch printers, in turn, were adept in catering to the market of enthusiasts and academics through publications that ranged from simple lists to gorgeous atlases with lengthy descriptions and copper-plate engravings that could be hand-colored (for an extra fee). Possessing such an atlas allowed plant collectors else-where to experience vicariously the exotic riches cultivated in one of Europe\u2019s major entrep\u00f4ts. The publication of a grand display piece required coordination among botanical experts, artists, engravers, and printers. Jan Commelin thus might be considered more the initiator of the enterprise than simply its \u201cauthor\u201d\u2014indeed, he died in 1692, five years before publication of the first volume. Having become wealthy in the pharmaceutical trade, and having published a book in 1672 about his methods of raising citrus fruits in heated greenhouses at his private gardens near Haarlem, he was chosen to be a governor of the city\u2019s hortus in 1682 when it was reestablished outside the city walls. He and Joan Huydecoper (1625\u20131704) used their connections to acquire exotic plants from both the East and West Indies. They also commissioned excellent artists to make accurate watercolors of rare plants (the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jan_Moninckx\"><em>Moninckx Atlas<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Commelin himself wrote careful descriptions in Dutch of each exotic\u2019s appearance and time of blossoming, provenance, and names given in other publications. After his death, the governors of the garden, Huydecoper and Commelin\u2019s successor, Franciscus de Vroede (1641\u20131706), saw the first volume through the press. Working chiefly with the printing firm of Blaeu, they commissioned the celebrated physician <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlm.nih.gov\/dreamanatomy\/da_dream_part.html\">Frederick Ruysch<\/a> (1638\u20131731) and Frans Kiggelaer (1648\u20131722), a pharmacist from The Hague, to edit and annotate Commelin\u2019s descriptions and translate them into Latin, had the accompanying watercolors turned into engravings, and added a dedication and preface. Jan\u2019s nephew Caspar Commelin, a physician and his successor as garden botanist, brought out the second volume in 1701. The resultant masterwork delighted botanical enthusiasts of the day.<\/p>\n<p><em>Learn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/category\/series\/curious-herbals\/\">herbals<\/a> in the historical collections of the National Library of Medicine.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brown.edu\/academics\/history\/people\/harold-j-cook\">Harold J. Cook<\/a> is John F. Nickoll Professor of History at Brown University and from 2000 to 2009 was Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London. He has <a href=\"https:\/\/vivo.brown.edu\/display\/hjcook#Publications\">published extensively<\/a> on early modern science and medicine<\/em><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Harold J. Cook ~ Originally published in Hidden Treasure: The National Library of Medicine, 2011. Horti Medici Amstelodamensis Rariorum<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19605840,"featured_media":16245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Commelin\u2019s Worldwide Botanical Web","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12763,51014,347145303],"tags":[275516,411245,177,27942,1681356,1833,626134,1487506,4816,2465,15734],"class_list":["post-16246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-collections","category-guests","category-rare-books-journals","tag-1600s","tag-1700s","tag-art","tag-atlas","tag-botanical-illustration","tag-gardening","tag-herbals","tag-hidden-treasure","tag-latin","tag-netherlands","tag-plants"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ht_034_feature.jpg?fit=900%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3xcDk-4e2","jetpack-related-posts":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19605840"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16246"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16641,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16246\/revisions\/16641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |