Aboca Edizioni's collectible facsimiles are precious volumes, made with noble materials and avant-garde printing techniques. The Hortus Eystettensis was printed on specially produced paper similar in weight, texture, color and wire drawing to that of a 17th century edition. The printing process used reproduced the pressure of a chalcographic plate, and advanced chromolithographic techniques were used to color the plates. Finally, the binding was done by hand, with antique-style stitching, incision colors, folds, pulls and labels on the spine.
No pieces of the first edition survived in Eichstätt, the place of origin of the Hortus Eystettensis. It was not until 1891 that the then director of the state and seminary library Franz S. Romstöck managed to acquire a three-volume piece from 1613 in London. It was a piece from a deluxe edition of the work, on the back of the engravings. The coloring of the plates, done by hand by an unknown artist, is notable for its delicacy, brightness and ability to bring out the texture of the intaglio.
The facsimile book was published in a limited edition of 1450 pieces. The present one was additionally hand-colored with watercolors in order to emphasize and fully render the colors of the plants.
An impressive work in size and grandeur.
366 engraved plates (on 367 sheets with two plates of Lilium Martagon) by Wolfgang Kilian, Dominicus Custos, Raphael Custos, Georg Gärtner, Johannes Leypold, Levin van Hulsen, Friedrick van Hulsen, Peter Isselburg, Servatius Raeven, Heinrich Ulrich and perhaps others.
