Botanische Einblattdrücke und Flugschriften vor 1800. Vol. 1, Getreide, Kornregen, Blutalgen, Weinrebe; vol. 2, Wundergestalt, Missbildungen, exotische Pflanzen (review)

For much of history people looked back to an earlier Golden Age, and their interpretations of it shaped their views of human development. The present was seen as a time of degeneration begun with the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and as people sought to understand the physical world around them, ultimate authority in all questions was found in the Bible. Even after the scientific discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler had begun to cast doubts on the teachings of Aristotle and on the biblical interpretation of creation, most people — the educated included — continued to view the physical world and the history of the human race as part of a divine plan. Based on the writings of the European intellectual elite, especially those from the Enlightenment, one may gain the impression that great progress was made in separating people's understanding of the physical world from any consideration of divine providence, for in the service of science proponents aggressively rejected the old world view, and popular printed works which expressed this view fell into disrepute and were forgotten.

A large portion of this early literature was in the form of popular prints and illustrations. Until recently much of the interest in this area has centered on political, social, and cultural-historical material, but recent important illustrated bibliographies of broadsheets and pamphlets about phenomena in the physical world are helping to expand the primary source material available to scholars. One such work is Klaus Stopp's two-volume catalogue of botanical broadsheets and pamphlets before 1800. A distinguished private collecter who is known for significant works on early maps, political broadsheets, and Pennsylvania German baptismal certificates, Stopp assembled the predominately German material for these volumes over three decades. It is often through the meticulous searching by a knowledgeable collector that significant material which has lain in obscurity finally comes to light, and such is the case with Stopp's work.

This catalogue is in essence a companion to Ingrid Faust's Zoologische Einblattdrucke und Flugschriften vor 1800 (four volumes to date; final volume in preparation). Both works focus on broadsheets and pamphlets that deal with physical phenomena in the early modern period, and interestingly — based on this comprehensive sample of original works — there appears to have been a much stronger public interest in zoological phenomena than in botanical ones. A further significant difference — this one textual, as Stopp points out in his introduction (ix) — is that the botanical material is predominately positive in its interpretation of the phenomena, whereas the zoological material is overwhelmingly negative.

Stopp's arrangement is by broad thematic groups rather than by strict taxonomy, which by the very nature of the material would have been impossible. The first volume contains broadsheets and pamphlets primarily about grains of various sorts, showers of grain, blood-colored algae, and extraordinary grapes; the second, plants with marvelous shapes, deformed plants, and exotic plants (such as the passiflora and the agave americana). For each item in the catalogue there is a high-quality (in most cases full-page) reproduction of the entire broadsheet or pamphlet illustration, and the detailed entry contains the following essential information, whenever available: the complete German title, a short description of the item, the place and date of the phenomenon, the type of print (i.e., broadsheet or pamphlet) and print technique (woodcut, engraving, etc.), the measurements, the imprint, commentary, a list of extant copies, and a list of references in secondary literature. Each item has been thoroughly researched, and taken as a whole, the commentaries are invaluable in clarifying the historical and cultural context in which this material was produced. Stopp has also provided a concise introductory essay before each of the thematic groups to describe the basis for the phenomenon and to outline the...