Detail book

Paradisi in Sole. Paradisus Terrestris. Or, a choise garden of all sorts of rarest flowers, with their nature, place of birth, time of flowring, names, and vertues to each plant, useful in physick, or admired for beauty. To which is annext a

Farmaceutica Erbari

The"Paradisi in sole Paradisus terrestris" was printed for the first time in 1629 and a second time in 1656, a few years after the death of the author, with some additions to the text. It is a very rich work with respect to its images: there are 100 illustrated pages and each presents at least seven plants depicted in detail. It should be borne in mind that the technique of wood engraving was still being used and for this reason the images are sometimes not well defined. Two interesting treatises follow the work, one on fruit trees and their cultivation, the other on the aromatic garden. In the following centuries this subject will be widely developed by English authors who will dedicate themselves to describing family gardens and flower cultivation. The frontispiece of the Paradisi commands our curiosity and leaves us mesmerized by its wealth of detail: we see Adam and Eve in Paradise beneath a canopy of giant cyclamens, lilium and caryophyllus.There is also an imaginary vegetal sheep from Tartary, an animal plant that vegetates in the vicinity of Samarkand. Towards the bottom of the idyllic scene we observe a cornice of easily recognizable long-stemmed plants. The work can be considered to be an anthology, even if in the description of the plants we find the classic list of virtues recognized in traditional English treatments.

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